BACKGROUND Conjugating immunostimulatory sequences of DNA to specific allergens offers a new approach to allergen immunotherapy that reduces acute allergic responses. METHODS We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial of a vaccine consisting of Amb a 1, a ragweed-pollen antigen, conjugated to a phosphorothioate oligodeoxyribonucleotide immunostimulatory sequence...

The aim of this review is to provide an understanding of the anatomical and histological structure of the nasal cavity, which is important for nasal drug and vaccine delivery as well as the development of new devices. The surface area of the nasal cavity is about 160 cm2, or 96 m2 if the microvilli are included. The olfactory region, however, is only about 5 cm2 (0.3 m2 including the microvilli...

Development of vaccines in autoimmune diseases has received wide attention over the last decade. However, many vaccines showed limited clinical efficacy. To enhance vaccine efficacy in infectious diseases, biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles have gained interest as antigen delivery systems. We investigated in mice whether antigen-encapsulated PLGA (poly-lactic-co-glycolic ac...

Background: Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is an infectious zoonotic pathogen causing human infections. These infections, in some cases, can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome and its life-threatening complications and even death worldwide. The first intimate bacterial adhesion, intimin (I), with its own receptor translocated intimin receptor (Tir) and E. coli secreted protein...

BACKGROUND Vaccination against Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a desirable albeit challenging strategy for prevention of airway infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. We assessed the immunogenicity of a nasal vaccine based on the outer membrane proteins F and I from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lower airways in a phase I/II clinical trial. METHODS N = 12 healthy volunteers received 2 nasal va...

Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has demonstrated varying levels of efficacy against seasonal influenza; however, LAIV may be used as a tool to measure interactions between the human microbiome and a live, replicating virus. To increase our knowledge of this interaction, we measured changes to the nasal microbiome in subjects who received LAIV to determine if associations between influe...

  During last two decades, polysaccharides such as alginate (Alg) alone and in combination with other biopolymers are widely used in vaccine and drug delivery systems. The aim of the present work was to investigate the potential utility of microparticles made of alginate (Alg) as new vehicles for improving nasal vaccine delivery. For this purpose, diphtheria toxoid (DT) was chosen as a model an...

background: enterohemorrhagic escherichia coli (ehec) o157:h7 is an infectious zoonotic pathogen causing human infections. these infections, in some cases, can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome and its life-threatening complications and even death worldwide. the first intimate bacterial adhesion, intimin (i), with its own receptor translocated intimin receptor (tir) and e. coli secreted protein...

The use of nasal cavity as a route of administration of drugs, specifically systemically acting drugs that pose a delivery challenge, have become an area of great interest to the pharmaceutical companies in the past decade. The physiology of the nasal cavity allows for variety of drug delivery possibilities and destinations which include local, systemic, vaccine, and access to the central nervo...

342 injections (380,,) in the placebo group; the higher incidence of local reactions in the placebo group was statistically significant (P < 0 01). During the initial course of six injections seven patients in the vaccine group and five in the placebo group developed wheeze and dyspnoea within 48 hours of an injection. These episodes were mild, but at the next weekly visit a second injection of...