Brittany Hartwell, PhD
Albumin-Hitchhiking Intranasal Vaccines With Enhanced Mucosal Delivery
Abstract
To combat HIV and persisting threats such as SARS-CoV-2, immunization strategies are needed that elicit protection at mucosal portals of pathogen entry. Traditional parenteral immunization regimens typically elicit poor mucosal immunity. While vaccination at mucosal surfaces is known to be an effective strategy to promote mucosal immunity, poor vaccine uptake across mucosal barriers has been a major limitation, and development of technologies to overcome barriers to mucosal delivery while meeting safety and efficacy requirements of prophylactic vaccines remains an urgent unmet need. The major blood protein albumin is constitutively transcytosed across the airway epithelium via interactions with the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). Here, we investigate a strategy of ‘albumin hitchhiking’ to promote mucosal and systemic immunity using an intranasal vaccine consisting of antigens conjugated to an albumin-binding polymer-lipid tail for enhanced transmucosal drug delivery.
I’m thrilled to receive a PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant for our work on intranasal vaccines for infectious diseases. This award recognizes the importance of developing mucosal drug delivery strategies for next-generation vaccines, and supports our efforts to elucidate vaccine kinetic mechanisms underlying immune activation in mucosal tissues.
