“Mucosal immunity is more advantageous than immunity through intramuscular injection.”
“Reduced storage and transportation costs compared to liquid vaccines that require cold storage.”
Chinese state-run Global Times reported on the 14th that Chinese researchers have developed a technology to make a vaccine to prevent infectious respiratory diseases through powder inhalation.
According to reports, researchers at the Institute of Process and Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a new vaccine delivery concept, ‘nano-micro composite’, and developed an inhalable dry powder vaccine platform for single administration. The details of this study were published in Nature on the 13th.
Most of the vaccines developed to prevent infectious respiratory diseases have been administered by intramuscular injection. However, the researchers explain that because this method induces a humoral immune response through blood antibodies, it is not easy to induce an immune response in the mucous membrane and build a strong immune barrier in the respiratory tract.
In addition, the liquid form of the vaccine has the disadvantage of requiring strict low-temperature storage and requiring two to three vaccination days, which affects the vaccination rate.
On the other hand, in the case of this new powder technology, the unique nano-micro composite structure allows the particles to be delivered to the lungs, inducing an efficient immune response and enabling effective absorption by antigen-presenting cells.
The vaccine powder is a combination of biodegradable fine particles and protein nanoparticles, and the surface of the nanoparticles can display multiple antigens at the same time, expanding the immune response and vaccine protection range. Antigen provision is also flexible, so it can be quickly and conveniently applied to developing vaccines for other respiratory diseases.
The researchers said that storage and transportation costs can also be greatly reduced, making it suitable for areas with limited refrigeration facilities, and it also has the advantage of providing long-lasting humoral, cellular, and mucosal immunity with a single inhalation.
Professor Wei Wei, IPE National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, who participated in the study, said, “The components of this nano-micro system are natural proteins and approved polymer materials,” and added, “As a result of systematic research on the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine in non-human primates, clinical results were confirmed. “It appears that the possibility of conversion is high,” he said.
Source: Donga
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