Nanoparticle Vaccines Adopting Virus-like Features for Enhanced Immune Potentiation

Chattopadhyay, Saborni; Chen, Jui-Yi; Chen, Hui-Wen; Hu, Che-Ming Jack

Exploiting the same transport mechanisms aimed at detaining viruses, nanoparticle vaccines can effectively target immune cells in lymph nodes, delivering antigens or adjuvants following administration in peripheral tissues [13, 141, 142] (Fig. 3A) . The benefit and focus on lymph node targeting also explain why particulate vaccines are most commonly administered subcutaneously as opposed to the conventional intramuscular route for subunit vaccines; free lymphatic drainage and access to immune cells in lymph nodes following injection into the interstitium likely outweigh the "depot effect" afforded by the intramuscular route [143, 144] . Lymphatic targeting by nanoparticles have also been observed following administration via different delivery routes, including pulmonary [145] , oral [146] , intra-peritoneal [147] routes. Such favorable distribution profile allows tailoring of nanoparticle vaccines towards targeting specific immunological compartments against different infectious threats.