Laser-assisted skin delivery of immunocontraceptive rabies nanoparticulate vaccine in poloxamer gel.

A painless skin delivery of vaccine for disease prevention is of great advantage in improving compliance in patients. To test this idea as a proof of concept, we utilized a pDNA vaccine construct, pDNAg333-2GnRH that has a dual function of controlling rabies and inducing immunocontraception in animals. The pDNA was administered to mice in a nanoparticulate form delivered through the skin using the P.L.E.A.S.E.® (Precise Laser Epidermal System) microporation laser device. Laser application was well tolerated, and mild skin reaction was healed completely in 8 days. We demonstrated that adjuvanted nanoparticulate pDNA vaccine significantly upregulated the expression of co-stimulatory molecules in dendritic cells. After topical administration of the adjuvanted nano-vaccine in mice, the high avidity serum for GnRH antibodies were induced and maintained up to 9 weeks. The induced immune response was of a mixed Th1/Th2 profile as measured by IgG subclasses (IgG2a and IgG1) and cytokine levels (IFN-γ and IL-4). Using flow cytometry, we revealed an increase of CD8+ T-cells and CD45R B cells upon the administration of the adjuvanted vaccine. Our previous study used the same pDNA nanoparticulate vaccine through an IM route, and a comparable immune response was induced using P.L.E.A.S.E. However, the vaccine dose in the current study was four-fold less than what was applied through the IM route.We concluded that laser-assisted skin vaccination has a potential of becoming a safe and reliable vaccination tool for rabies vaccination in animals or even in humans for pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis.