| Abstract: | Vaccine development and vaccination is a major growth area of the pharmaceutical industry. As new vaccine products become available, potential will be given to physicians to provide prophylaxis for diseases that were previously not preventable, or to improve immunisation for some diseases that are currently suboptimally covered. Many factors influence vaccine effectiveness but one of the most important is the route of delivery of the product. Mucosal delivery of vaccines allows primary immunisation at the sites of the body where many of mankind’s mortality- and morbidity-causing diseases are initiated. Effective mucosal immunity is best induced by mucosal delivery of vaccines, due to the specialised and interlinked nature of the mucosal lymphoid tissues. As well as the potential for enhanced immunity, mucosal vaccine delivery is expected to increase patient compliance, make vaccines easier to use and reduce the pain, side-effects and fear of parenteral injection. However, mucosal delivery of vaccines is not straightforward and several strategies have been developed to allow for administration by the oral, nasal, rectal, genito-urinary and even pulmonary routes. These strategies include the use of live attenuated micro-organisms, attenuated toxins, bioadhesive polymers and emulsions, liposomes and proteosomes, biodegradable microparticles and immune stimulatory complexes (ISCOMS) as mucosal vaccine delivery systems/adjuvants. Details of some of the recent advances utilising these systems for mucosal antigen delivery are included in the article with a brief discussion on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the various strategies. |
