Abstract
Vaccines remain the most effective way to protect populations against deathly infectious diseases. Several disadvantages associated with the traditional vaccines that use whole pathogens have led to the development of alternative strategies including the use of recombinant subunit vaccines. Subunit vaccines are, in general, safer than whole pathogens but tend to be less immunogenic due to the lack of molecular cues that are typically found on whole pathogens. To enhance immunogenicity, the subunit antigen can be administered with adjuvants that stimulate the innate immune system as a means to steer the quality and magnitude of the adaptive immune response. Novel classes of adjuvants are formulated using particle-based platforms such as virus-like particles, liposomes, and polymeric nanoparticles. These particle-based systems present antigens in ways reminiscent of whole pathogens. Such platforms offer several advantages that include co-delivery of antigen along with innate immune stimulators in a highly immunogenic format. Here we describe our recent efforts to synthesize, characterize, and validate two promising nanoparticle-based delivery systems and demonstrate their potential to induce antigen-specific CD8(+) T cell responses, essential in clearing infection with intracellular pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, and eradicating tumors.