Recent strategies driving oral biologic administration.

Area of Science:

• Vaccinology
• Immunology
• Drug Delivery Systems

Background:

• Oral vaccination provides high patient compliance, noninvasiveness, and self-administration capabilities.
• It is crucial for rapid mass vaccination campaigns during pandemics, inducing both mucosal and systemic immune responses.
• Oral vaccines protect against infection at mucosal surfaces, particularly within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing technologies and future prospects for oral vaccination.
• To highlight the potential of oral vaccines in protecting against pathogens entering through the GIT.
• To discuss strategies for overcoming challenges in oral vaccine delivery.

Main Methods:

• Review of current scientific literature on oral vaccine technologies.
• Analysis of challenges associated with oral delivery of subunit and nucleic acid vaccines.
• Exploration of novel mucosal inductive sites for vaccination.

Main Results:

• Oral vaccines can target various mucosal inductive sites within the GIT, including the oral cavity, stomach, and small intestine.
• Challenges such as biodegradation and reduced absorption of biologics need to be addressed for effective oral vaccination.
• Current approaches primarily focus on the intestinal mucosa.

Conclusions:

• Future oral vaccination strategies aim to utilize new mucosal sites like the oral cavity and stomach.
• Recent advancements in biologic delivery systems are key for future oral vaccine development.
• Oral vaccination holds significant promise for infectious disease prevention and control.