Microbiota Influences Vaccine and Mucosal Adjuvant Efficacy

A symbiotic relationship between humans and the microbiota is critical for the maintenance of our health, including development of the immune system, enhancement of the epithelial barrier, and acquisition of nutrients. Recent research has shown that the microbiota impacts immune cell development and differentiation. These findings suggest that the microbiota may also influence adjuvant and vaccine efficacy. Indeed, several factors such as malnutrition and poor sanitation, which affect gut microbiota composition, impair the efficacy of vaccines. Although there is little evidence that microbiota alters vaccine efficacy, further understanding of human immune system-microbiota interactions may lead to the effective development of adjuvants and vaccines for the treatment of diseases.

Status and progress of research on mucosal vaccines / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: Mucosal surfaces are a major portal of entry for many human pathogens that are the cause of infectious diseases. Vaccines that immunize by mucosal routes may induce protective immunity against mucosal pathogens at their sites of entry thus to be more effective and economical. We try to overview the status and progress of research on mucosal vaccines. METHODS: The databases of CNKI and Pubmed were used to search the related articles about mucosal vaccines with key words "mucosal vaccine, mucosal adjuvant, mucosal particulate delivery vectors" in Chinese and English. Articles closely related to mucosal vaccines were selected. RESULTS: Thirty-six articles were included at last. Live-attenuated or inactivated mucosal vaccines and vaccines based on new concepts such as subunit vaccines, virus-like particles and virosomes have been marketed, and related research work are undergoing. Safe and effective mucosal adjuvants and delivery vectors are being sought to enhance the magnitude and quality of the protective immune response. The composition, size, surface chemistry and ligands of particulate carrier systems may influence the efficacy. Great progress has been made in several particulate delivery systems. CONCLUSION: Although the research and development of mucosal vaccines are facing many difficulties and challenges, the progress of research work will bring new opportunities to mucosal vaccines development.

The mucosal adjuvanticity of two nontoxic mutants of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin varies with immunization routes

Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT), which causes a characteristic diarrhea in humans and animals, is a strong mucosal immunogen and has powerful mucosal adjuvant activity towards coadministered unrelated antigens. Here we report the different mucosal adjuvanticity of nontoxic LT derivatives, LTS63Y and LTdelta110/112, generated by immunizing through two different mucosal routes. Intragastric (IG) immunization with Helicobacter pylori urease alone resulted in poor systemic IgG and IgA responses and no detectable local secretory IgA, but IG co-immunization with urease and LTdelta110/112 induced high titers of urease-specific local secretory IgA and systemic IgG and IgA, comparable to those induced by wild-type LT. LTS63Y showed far lower adjuvant activity towards urease than LTdelta110/112 in IG immunization, but was more active than LTdelta110/112 in inducing immune responses to urease by intranasal (IN) immunization. LTdelta110/112 predominantly enhanced the induction of urease-specific IgG1 levels following IG immunization, whereas LTS63Y induced high levels of IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b following IN immunization. In addition, quantitative H. pylori culture of stomach tissue following challenge with H. pylori demonstrated a 90-95% reduction (p < 0.0002) in bacterial burden in mice immunized intranasally with urease using either mutant LT as an adjuvant. These results indicate that the mechanism(s) underlying the adjuvant activities of mutant LTs towards coadmnistered H. pylori urease may differ between the IN and IG mucosal immunization routes.