Nanotechnology, drug delivery systems and their applications in hepatitis B vaccines

PERAZZO P; RODRIGUEZ DEL VALLE N; SORDELLI A; GONZALEZ R; NUSBLAT AD; CUESTAS ML

International Journal of Vaccines & Vaccination

MedCrave Publishing Group

Año: 2015

Since the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976 Baruch Blumberg and IrvingMillman developed the first prophylactic plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine - alsoconsidered the world´s first cancer vaccine- so much progress has been made inthe development of new immunogenic and safe vaccines. However, improvementsare still clearly required since vaccines currently available in the market producemainly a humoral immune response, require cold storage, a three dose schedule,the costs of the vaccines are high, many developing or low-incoming countriesdisplay a poor compliance in vaccination programs, and 5-10% of the vaccinatedindividuals are poor or non-responders.To overcome such drawbacks, nanotechnology has emerged as a new platform forvaccine development. Nanocarrier-based delivery systems offer an opportunityto stimulate both humoral as well as cell-mediated responses and to inducemucosal and systemic immunity simultaneously. Furthermore, nanocarrier-baseddelivery systems avoid the need for sterile needles. This manuscript reviewsthe current knowledges on the vailable hepatitis B vaccines and introduces therecent advances in nanocarrier-based hepatitis B vaccine delivery systems. Thechallenges in the development of needle-free nanotechnologies are also discussed.