Nanoparticles to Improve the Efficacy of Vaccines

Dear colleagues,

Vaccination is a process of introducing (foreign) antigenic material(s) to activate a host immune system to develop inflammatory responses followed by adaptive immunity against a pathogen or cancer. It has been a key strategy to control diseases and has contributed a great deal to improving the quality of life of humans and animals. Despite the presence of successful vaccines, many diseases including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease, middle eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) disease, dengue fever, Marburg disease, malaria, and tuberculosis are in need of effective vaccines together with qualified adjuvants. While traditional adjuvants such as alum have been exclusively employed clinically to promote humoral responses, recent development in adjuvant research identified by various potential pathogen-associated molecular patterns (i.e. CpG-ODN, Poly(I:C), and cyclic dinucleotides), a few chemical compounds (i.e. imiquimod and resiquimod), as well as other molecular agonists of toll-like receptors are known to induce strong immune responses.

In the last decade, advancements in material science have opened up a new era of innovative strategies for vaccine design. Moreover, materials science has been widely adopted for vaccine development for strong humoral and cellular immune responses. To evoke appropriate immune responses in humans and animals after vaccination, it is necessary to induce not only innate but also adaptive immunity. As vaccine development pushes toward less immunogenic components such as peptide-based or sub-unit vaccines because of side effects and a life-threatening risk of live attenuated vaccine, strategies to boost both innate and adaptive immune responses are increasingly needed.

Recently attention has been directed toward the utilization of nanomaterials as a part of vaccine formulation as the following: (1) delivery vehicles, (2) vaccine adjuvant, (3) increase of the sparing effect, (4) targeted delivery, (5) stabilization, and (6) slow release. Attention has also been directed toward manomaterials, modified to trigger specific immune responses, liposomes and lipid-based nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, virus-like particles, self-assembled proteins, and other nanoparticles including carbon-based nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes and graphenes). The modification of such nanomaterials is known to provide a functional and stable interface for different applications for vaccination.

In this Special Issue, entitled ‘Nanoparticles to Improve the Efficacy of Vaccines’, we would like to bring the reader’s attention to advanced platforms and technologies for vaccination using nanomaterials to achieve the best outcomes in terms of the efficacy of vaccinations and immunological memory.

Prof. Dr. Chong-Su Cho
Prof. Dr. Cheol-Heui Yun
Guest Editors

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