Oral Tolerance to Antigens

The provocation of mucosal immunity against a given antigen can be achieved by other means besides oral ingestion. For example, intranasal administration of vaccine proteins can improve local mucosal immunity and enable large populations to be immunized at a lower cost. Plant-derived vaccines provide hope for more immunogenic, more effective and 

Alvarez, M.L., Pinyerd, H.L, Crisantes, J.D., Rigano, M.M., Pinkhasov, J., Walmsley, A.M., Mason, H.S., and Cardineau, G.A. (2005). Plant-made subunit vaccine against pneumonic and bubonic plague is orally immunogenic in mice. Vaccine 24(14) 2477-2490. 

and Bhatnagar, R. (2002). Expression of protective antigen in transgenic plants a step towards edible vaccine against anthrax. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 299 345-351. 

and Cunnick, J.E. (2007). Low-dose exposure and immunogenicity of transgenic maize expressing the Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin B subunit. Environ. Health Perspect. 115(3) 354-360. 

Biemelt, S., Sonnewald, U., Galmbacher, P, Willmitzer, L., and Muller, M. (2003). Production of human papillomavirus type 16 virus-like particles in transgenic plants. J. Virol. 77(17) 9211-9220. 

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One challenge related to the use of oral vaccines is the potential risk of inducing oral tolerance to antigens, and thus the use of oral vaccines requires control and monitoring of the administration of these products as any other biopharmaceutical. However, oral tolerance may also be used for the development of orally delivered treatments for autoimmune diseases. Plant-derived autoantigens may be able... 

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