Mucosal vaccines - fortifying the frontiers.

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Vaccinology
• Infectious Disease

Background:

• Mucosal vaccines aim to induce protective immunity at pathogen entry sites, preventing infection establishment.
• Current licensed mucosal vaccines are limited to live attenuated and inactivated whole-cell preparations.
• Injectable vaccine advancements (subunit, RNA, DNA) have not yet translated to mucosal applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the potential of mucosal vaccines in preventing infections at their primary sites.
• To identify key areas for advancing mucosal vaccine development, including adjuvants and delivery systems.
• To explore how a deeper understanding of mucosal immunity mechanisms can inform rational vaccine design.

Main Methods:

• Review of current understanding of innate and adaptive mucosal immunity.
• Analysis of mechanisms regulating mucosal immune responses and inter-site crosstalk.
• Identification of key cellular targets within mucosal tissues for vaccine design.

Main Results:

• Significant progress in understanding mucosal immunity mechanisms provides insights for adjuvant design.
• Knowledge of mucosal antigen-presenting cells, innate lymphoid cells, and resident memory cells offers vaccine targets.
• Potential to leverage new vaccine technologies for rational mucosal vaccine development.

Conclusions:

• Developing safe and effective mucosal adjuvants, alongside innovative antigen delivery, is essential for advancing mucosal vaccines.
• Understanding mucosal immunity mechanisms and cellular targets can guide the design of next-generation vaccines.
• These advancements hold promise for pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 and for cancer vaccines.