Transmucosal Delivery of Nasal Nanovaccines Enhancing Mucosal and Systemic Immunity

Intranasal vaccines can induce protective immune responses at the mucosa surface entrance, preventing the invasion of respiratory pathogens. However, the nasal barrier remains a major challenge in the development of intranasal vaccines. Herein, a transmucosal nanovaccine based on cationic fluorocarbon modified chitosan (FCS) is developed to induce mucosal immunity. In our system, FCS can self-assemble with the model antigen ovalbumin and TLR9 agonist CpG, effectively promoting the maturation and cross-presentation of dendritic cells. More importantly, it can enhance the production of secretory immunoglobin A (sIgA) at mucosal surfaces for those intranasally vaccinated mice, which in the meantime showed effective production of immunoglobulin G (IgG) systemically. As a proof-of-concept study, such a mucosal vaccine inhibits ovalbumin-expressing B16-OVA melanoma, especially its lung metastases. Our work presents a unique intranasal delivery system to deliver antigen across mucosal epithelia and promote mucosal and systemic immunity.