Mucosal Vaccine Delivery and M Cell Targeting

Abstract

Traditional vaccination strategies that use needles or require multiple dosages using an invasive route suffer from the problems of administration, needle borne cross-contamination, expenses, and patient compliance. Mucosal vaccine delivery is potentially advantageous; however, the limitations of the mucosal route of delivery, including low pH, gastric enzymes, rapid transit and poor absorption of large molecules, have made this route of vaccine delivery challenging. The M cell targeting is a potential approach to enhance efficacy of mucosal vaccine delivery, which can be achieved using M cell-specific lectins, microbial adhesins or immunoglobulins. Such targeting strategies will likely be critical for the development of more effective mucosal vaccines. While many hurdles must be overcome before targeted mucosal vaccine delivery becomes a practical reality, this is a potential area of research that has important implications for future vaccine development.