News and Events
Fall 2009 Seminars
Vaccination Using Microneedles
Mark Prausnitz
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Thursday, November 5, 2009
10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
102 Chemistry Building
Abstract
Although vaccines have become a cornerstone of public health over the past century, the conventional intramuscular route of delivery does not provide an optimal response.
Alternate routes of vaccination that more closely mimic the natural portal of pathogen entry or target immune-responsive cells have been shown to produce
more efficient and varied immune responses using lower vaccine doses.
Motivated by these observations, immunization via the skin has received heightened attention, in large part due to the presence of Langerhans and dermal dendritic cells, which are powerful antigen-presenting cells residing in the skin.
To address the pain, variability and difficulty of intradermal administration via a fine-gauge needle, we and others have developed the use of microneedles as a transdermal vaccine delivery approach that should be a simpler and more cost-effective immunization method. Microneedles have been fabricated by adapting the tools of the microelectronics industry for inexpensive mass production. Microneedles typically measure hundreds of microns in length and are used as multi-needle arrays to
- pierce the skin prior to application of a topical vaccine formulation,
- deposit antigen within the skin using microneedles coated with a vaccine formulation or
- inject vaccine into the skin through hollow microneedles.
There are a number of reasons why microneedles offer a unique combination of advantages as a vaccine delivery platform, including the potential to be effective with a lower vaccine dose, provide low cost manufacturing, permit self-administration, facilitate safe disposal, allow storage at room temperature, and be amenable to rapid distribution. Overall, the expected efficacy, combined with a range of functional, cost, and patient compliance advantages suggest that vaccination using microneedles is a promising approach.
This study tests the governing hypothesis that microneedle-based delivery to the skin simplifies logistics of vaccination and can increase vaccine immunogenicity. The findings of a study on mice with influenza vaccines will be presented.