Intranasal DNA Vaccine for Protection against Respiratory Infectious Diseases: The Delivery Perspectives

Xu, Yingying; Yuen, Pak-Wai; Lam, Jenny Ka-Wing

Mankind has been haunted by respiratory infectious diseases for aeons. They have created public health concerns since ancient times. With the emergence of new or drug-resistant strains, it is becoming a challenge to protect the public from infections using conventional vaccine methods. DNA vaccines have huge potential for the prevention of respiratory infections due to their ability to offer broad immunity, the relatively rapid process of designing new DNA vaccine construct and the possibility of large-scale production in a short period of time. In this section, four pathogens that cause severe diseases in the airways are highlighted, including tuberculosis, coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, with a brief discussion of current DNA vaccine development against these infections.