Salivary gland genetic vaccination: a scalable technology for promoting distal mucosal immunity and heightened systemic immune responses.

Use of plasmid DNA for vaccination has been demonstrated quite successfully in small rodents. However, some of the many challenges of DNA vaccine development are the relatively low performance obtained in larger animals and a generally weak mucosal immune response. Vaccination through salivary gland (SG) cannulation and delivery of aqueous solutions of DNA is one potential solution.

Systemic and mucosal antibody responses following retroductal gene transfer to the salivary gland.

Gene transfer to salivary glands by retrograde perfusion of the salivary duct has been shown to result in production of the encoded protein. We sought to determine if this technique would be useful for genetic immunization. In studies that compare delivery of DNA to either the salivary gland (SG) or muscle (im), mean plasma IgG and IgA titers obtained following SG delivery were 46- and 86-fold greater, respectively, than those following im delivery.