Systemic and mucosal immune responses to sublingual or intramuscular Human Papilloma Virus antigens in healthy female volunteers

Zhiming Huo, Sara L. Bissett, Raphaela Giemza, Simon Beddows, Clarissa Oeser, David J.M. Lewis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The sublingual route has been proposed as a needle-free option to induce systemic and mucosal immune protection against viral infections. In a translational study of systemic and mucosal humoral immune responses to sublingual or systemically administered viral antigens, eighteen healthy female volunteers aged 19-31 years received three immunizations with a quadravalent Human Papilloma Virus vaccine at 0, 4 and 16 weeks as sublingual drops (SL, n = 12) or intramuscular injection (IM, n = 6). IM antigen delivery induced or boosted HPV-specific serum IgG and pseudovirus-neutralizing antibodies, HPV-specific cervical and vaginal IgG, and elicited circulating IgG and IgA antibody secreting cells. SL antigens induced ~38-fold lower serum and ~2-fold lower cervical/vaginal IgG than IM delivery, and induced or boosted serum virus neutralizing antibody in only 3/12 subjects. Neither route reproducibly induced HPV-specific mucosal IgA. Alternative delivery systems and adjuvants will be required to enhance and evaluate immune responses following sublingual immunization in humans. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00949572.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere33736
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Mar 2012

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