title: Enhanced memory responses to seasonal H1N1 influenza vaccination of the skin with the use of vaccine-coated microneedles.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Morbidity and mortality due to influenza could be reduced by improved vaccination.
  
  
  METHODS
  To develop a novel skin delivery method that is simple and allows for easy self-administration, we prepared microneedle patches with stabilized influenza vaccine and investigated their protective immune responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mice vaccinated with a single microneedle dose of trehalose-stabilized influenza vaccine developed strong antibody responses that were long-lived. Compared with traditional intramuscular vaccination, stabilized microneedle vaccination was superior in inducing protective immunity, as was evidenced by efficient clearance of virus from the lung and enhanced humoral and antibody-secreting cell immune responses after 100% survival from lethal challenge. Vaccine stabilization was found to be important, because mice vaccinated with an unstabilized microneedle vaccine elicited a weaker immunoglobulin G 2a antibody response, compared with the stabilized microneedle vaccine, and were only partially protected against viral challenge. Improved trafficking of dendritic cells to regional lymph nodes as a result of microneedle delivery to the skin might play a role in contributing to improved protective immunity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that vaccination of the skin using a microneedle patch can improve protective efficacy and induce long-term sustained immunogenicity and may also provide a simple method of administration to improve influenza vaccination coverage.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Yeu-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Fu-Shi
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.forename: Dae-Goon
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Compans
authors.forename: Sang-Moo
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Prausnitz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000276:immunology*; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology*; D007271:Injections, Intradermal / Q000295:instrumentation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines