Transdermal vaccination

Investigations by Yarosh over almost two decades have proven that liposomal carriers allow uptake of a DNA repair enzyme into the skin [57], This uptake significantly reduces the number of new actinic keratoses and new lesions of basal cell carcinoma in patients with xeroderma pigmentosum who were treated for 12 months [58], Moreover, in a mice model, transdermal vaccination by antigen incorporation into liposomes has also been demonstrated [59,60],... 

Transdermal vaccination or transcutaneous immunization, is attractive, because it does not require specially trained personnel necessary for needle injections. Topical application of antigens to intact skin has shown promising results for the administration of DNA-based vaccines. Noninvasive gene delivery by pipetting adenovirus- or liposome-complexed plasmid DNA onto the outer layer of skin was able to achieve localized transgene expression within a restricted subset of skin in mice. It also elicited an immune response against the protein encoded by the DNA. ... 

Clinical trial methodology and guidelines for special disease-related therapeutie fields are discussed. In cooperation with other working parties, guidanee for modified-release oral and transdermal dosage forms, pharmacokinetics, and clinical investigation of new vaccines, gene therapy, and cell-cultured influenza vaeeines has been... 

Paul, A., Cevc, G. and Bachhawat, B. K., Transdermal immunisation with an integral membrane component, gap junction protein, by means of ultradeformable drug carriers, transfersomes. Vaccine, 16, 188-95, 1998. 

A. Paul and G. Cevc, Non-invasive administration of protein antigens transdermal immunization with the bovine serum albumin in transfersomes, Vaccine Res. 4 145 (1995). 

A Si microneedle has been fabricated, though the application was not in making the ESI tip, but in transdermal drug or vaccine delivery. Figure 7.40 shows how the microneedle penetrates a 10-pm-thick A1 foil. This needle has the openings in the shaft, rather than in an orifice at the tip [791]. 

Transdermal delivery of proteins and/or DNA vaccines for needle-free immunization has been attracting increasing interest. Cui et al. [110] reported on ethanol-in-fluorocarbone (E/F) MEs for topical immunisation. The authors showed that plasmid DNA incorporated into E/F MEs was found to be stable. Furthermore, after topical application to the skin, significant enhancements in luciferase expression, antibody production, and T-helper type 1 based immune response compared to an aqueous or ethanolic solutions of DNA were observed [110]. 

In recent years, the potential of using the skin for vaccination purposes has reoeived a great deal of attention [132], One of the more promising ways of enhanoing skin permeability to enable transdermal transport of large moleoules or oomplexes for transou-taneous immunization is sonophoresis. 

The success of vaccination depends primarily on the method of presenting the antigen to the host immune system. Antigens have usually been delivered by parenteral (such as intravenous, intramuscular, intraperito-neal, intradermal, and subcutaneous) administration, but recent studies have shown that other routes of delivery such as intranasal, oral, and transdermal delivery have also been effective. In some cases, vaccination through mucosal routes resulted in better responses in IgA production. Because non-parenteral vaccine delivery presents many obvious advantages, numerous attempts have been made on the development of non-parenteral delivery of vaccines. 

Misra, A Ganga, S. Upadhyay, P. Needle-free, non-adjuvanted skin immunization by electroporation-enhanced transdermal delivery of diphtheria toxoid and a candidate peptide vaccine against hepatitis B virus. Vaccine 1999, 18, 517-523. 

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