Vaccine Nanocarriers

Vaccination has undergone a complete revolution over the past ten decades. With the progress in biotechnology, the present scientific world has witnessed the emergence of a novel vaccine delivery system, called nanovaccines, for eliciting effective humoral, cellular, and mucosal immunity as compared to the conventional vaccination strategies. This novel approach bears innovative methodologies for effective vaccination by arousing beneficial host responses. The different forms of nanovaccine delivery are either microspheres or nanobeads. This chapter discusses in detail the variant forms of nanoparticulate vaccine adjuvants and delivery systems, their interaction with the immune system, and their clinical trial results. Many nanovaccines licensed for human use have proved to be effective carriers for antigens. These immunopotentiators like virosome-based carriers, Immunostimulating Complexes (ISCOMs), polymeric particles, etc. can be formulated as new vaccination methods for curing diseases like HIV, malaria, hepatitis, cancer, etc., thereby cementing the future of the next generation vaccines.

Nanoparticulate Tubular Immunostimulating Complexes: Novel Formulation of Effective Adjuvants and Antigen Delivery Systems

New generation vaccines, based on isolated antigens, are safer than traditional ones, comprising the whole pathogen. However, major part of purified antigens has weak immunogenicity. Therefore, elaboration of new adjuvants, more effective and safe, is an urgent problem of vaccinology. Tubular immunostimulating complexes (TI-complexes) are a new type of nanoparticulate antigen delivery systems with adjuvant activity. TI-complexes consist of cholesterol and compounds isolated from marine hydrobionts: cucumarioside A2-2 (CDA) fromCucumaria japonicaand monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) from marine algae or seagrass. These components were selected due to immunomodulatory and other biological activities. Glycolipid MGDG from marine macrophytes comprises a high level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which demonstrate immunomodulatory properties. CDA is a well-characterized individual compound capable of forming stable complex with cholesterol. Such complexes do not possess hemolytic activity. Ultralow doses of cucumariosides stimulate cell as well as humoral immunity. Therefore, TI-complexes comprising biologically active components turned out to be more effective than the strongest adjuvants: immunostimulating complexes (ISCOMs) and complete Freund’s adjuvant. In the present review, we discuss results published in series of our articles on elaboration, qualitative and quantitative composition, ultrastructure, and immunostimulating activity of TI-complexes. The review allows immersion in the history of creating TI-complexes.

Vaccine Nanocarriers

Vaccination has undergone a complete revolution over the past ten decades. With the progress in biotechnology, the present scientific world has witnessed the emergence of a novel vaccine delivery system, called nanovaccines, for eliciting effective humoral, cellular, and mucosal immunity as compared to the conventional vaccination strategies. This novel approach bears innovative methodologies for effective vaccination by arousing beneficial host responses. The different forms of nanovaccine delivery are either microspheres or nanobeads. This chapter discusses in detail the variant forms of nanoparticulate vaccine adjuvants and delivery systems, their interaction with the immune system, and their clinical trial results. Many nanovaccines licensed for human use have proved to be effective carriers for antigens. These immunopotentiators like virosome-based carriers, Immunostimulating Complexes (ISCOMs), polymeric particles, etc. can be formulated as new vaccination methods for curing diseases like HIV, malaria, hepatitis, cancer, etc., thereby cementing the future of the next generation vaccines.