A Milk Protein-Hitchhiking Strategy for the Oral Delivery of Amphiphilic Vaccines

Oral vaccination is a very powerful and effective approach for vaccination, because it can not only induce a broad immunity through the blood and lymphatics, but also help patrol a very thin lining in the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems for potential virus invasion. The latter is particularly important as many pathogens invade the body via sexual or respiratory transmission. However, the stomach presents a major barrier to successful delivery of protein-based vaccines to the intestines, in which immune cells would otherwise receive alarm signals. The stomach is highly acidic and also contains proteins that recognize vaccines as food sources to chop up. To address this challenge, we draw inspiration from two seemingly irrelevant disciplines dairy science and bioconjugation chemistry to develop a plug and play type of approach for oral delivery of vaccines.