PilVax: A Novel Platform for the Development of Mucosal Vaccines

Peptide vaccines offer an attractive strategy to induce highly specific immune responses while reducing potential side effects. However, peptides are often poorly immunogenic and unstable on their own, requiring the need for potentially toxic adjuvants or expensive chemical coupling. The novel peptide delivery platform PilVax utilizes the rigid pilus structure from Group A Streptococcus (GAS) to stabilize and amplify the peptide, and present it on the surface of the non-pathogenic food-grade bacterium Lactococcus lactis. Upon intranasal immunization, PilVax vaccines have proven to induce peptide-specific systemic and mucosal responses. PilVax provides an alternative method to develop mucosal vaccines that are inexpensive to produce and easy to administer.