Induction of mucosal immune responses following enteric immunization with antigen delivered in alginate microspheres.

Oral immunization is the most effective way of inducing immune responses in the intestinal tract. Biodegradable microspheres have been used extensively for the delivery of antigens to the Peyer's patches (PPs) within the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). We evaluated various formulations of alginate microspheres for their capacity to induce mucosal immune responses in vivo. Multiple intestinal "loops" each containing a single PP, were surgically prepared in lambs. We have previously showed that PP in individual intestinal loops function as independent sites for the induction of immune responses. This animal model provides a system for directly comparing different antigen formulations within the same animal. Individual intestinal loops were injected with a model antigen, porcine serum albumin (PSA) encapsulated in three different formulations of alginate micropsheres. Three weeks after immunization, PSA-specific immune responses were assayed with antibody secreting cell (ASC) ELISPOT, lymphocyte proliferative responses (LPRs), IFN-gamma production and antibody secreted into intestinal loops. PSA encapsulated in alginate micropsheres or in saline induced humoral immune responses as indicated by the presence of numerous ASC. However, PSA-specific T-cell responses (LPR and IFN-gamma production) were not induced.