A “patch” vaccine has developed ten times more immune response than the traditional injection

The current COVID-19 pandemic has put science to the test of the need to develop vaccines to prevent infection in record time.

Now, researchers from Stanford University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, went further by publishing the results of a work in which they study a micro-needle vaccine patch that promises to overcome the usual pinprick to boost immunity.

The trick is to apply the vaccine patch directly to the skin, which is full of immune cells targeted by traditional vaccines.

It seems, the immune response resulting from the vaccine patch was ten times that of the vaccine given to the muscle of the arm with a needle stick, according to an animal study published by the team of scientists from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Micro-needle patches designed to deliver precise loads into the intradermal space, rich in immune cells, offer a non-invasive and self-applicable vaccination approach, eliminating the need for hypodermic needles and trained medical personnel for the administration of vaccines “, explain the authors in the scientific publication. And they added, “Here we show that advanced 3D printing methods allow the fabrication of polymeric microneedles of controlled geometries (difficult to fabricate with traditional methods) designed to improve the coating of vaccine components. Using components of model vaccines, We have demonstrated that the administration of 3D printed microneedles results in greater retention of charge in the skin, activation of immune cells, and stronger humoral and cellular immune responses compared to traditional vaccination routes. “

Joseph M. DeSimone is Professor of Translational Medicine and Chemical Engineering at Stanford University and Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, noting that, By developing this technology, they hope “to lay the groundwork for even faster global vaccine development, at lower doses, without pain or anxiety.”.

According to the researchers, The ease and effectiveness of a vaccine patch opens up a new way of delivering vaccines that are painless, less invasive than injection with a needle, and can also be self-administered.

The results of the study show that the vaccine patch elicited a significant antibody response specific to antigens and T cells which was 50 times greater than a subcutaneous injection administered under the skin.

This increased immune response could result in dose savings, with a micro-needle vaccine patch using a lower dose to elicit an immune response similar to that of a vaccine given with a needle and syringe.

While microneedle patches have been studied for decades, current work overcomes some challenges of the past: Through 3D printing, microneedles can be easily customized to develop various vaccine patches for influenza, measles, hepatitis or COVID-19 vaccines.

About Microneedle technology

While the lead author of the study, Shaomin Tian, ​​a researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University’s Faculty of Medicine University of North Carolina recognized that “in general it is a challenge to adapt microneedles to different types of vaccines”, and felt that “these problems, along with manufacturing challenges, may have slowed down the field of micro-needles for vaccine delivery,” he believes that this time around, development might have a different fate.

Most microneedle vaccines are made with master models for making molds. However, microneedle molding is not very versatile and the drawbacks include reduced needle sharpness during replication.

“Our approach allows us to 3D print microneedles directly, giving us a lot of design freedom to manufacture the best microneedles from a performance and cost perspective.”Tian explained.

The microneedles were produced at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill using a CLIP 3D printer prototype invented by DeSimone and produced by CARBON, a Silicon Valley company he co-founded. .

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