Chitosan-based Nanoparticles in Mucosal Vaccine Delivery

Most infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic infiltrations from the mucosal tract. Nowadays, the use of vaccines has been widely investigated for the prevention of different infectious diseases, infertility, immune disorders, malignancies, and allergies. Broad-spectrum adjuvant substances have been studied for immune system stimulation with a greater efficiency against specific antigens. Various adjuvants have been developed such as inorganic, oil-based, and emulsion adjuvants, bacterial products and their derivatives, cytokines, cytosine-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) motifs, and particulate systems. Mucosal vaccine delivery is an alternative route to induce both humoral and cellular immune responses. Applying nanoparticles in vaccine formulations allows not only improved antigen stability and immunogenicity, but also targeted delivery, and consequently, more specific release of the agent of interest. Chitosan nanoparticles have immunological activity and mucoadhesive properties. They have been used as a mucosal vaccine delivery system for many antigens. This review provides an overview of the recent advances in chitosan nanoparticles as a novel mucosal vaccine delivery system.