Microneedle-Mediated Immunization Promotes Lung CD8+ T-Cell Immunity.

Microneedle array has proven more efficient in stimulating humoral immunity than intramuscular vaccination. However, its effectiveness in inducing pulmonary CD8+ T cells remains elusive, which is essential to the frontline defense against pulmonary viral infections such as influenza and COVID-19 viruses. The current investigation reveals that superior CD8+ T-cell responses are elicited by immunization with a microneedle array over intradermal or intramuscular immunization using the model antigen ovalbumin, irrespective of whether or not the antigen is provided in the lung.

Visualization and elimination of polymicrobial biofilms by a combination of ALA-carvacrol-blue light.

Chronic wound infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria are one of the serious threats to public health due to limited therapeutic options and lengthy care. This investigation combines 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), blue light (BL), and phytochemical carvacrol, named ABC cocktail or trio-therapy, to efficiently eliminate wound-related MDR pathogens. Both planktonic cells and biofilms of blue light-refractory Escherichia (E.

Blue light potentiates safety and bactericidal activity of p-Toluquinone.

Fewer antibiotics are available for effective management of bacterial infections to date owing to increasing multiple-drug resistance (MDR). Here, we expand our early success in combination of 405 nm blue light irradiation with phenolic compounds to sufficiently kill blue light-refractory MDR Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Childhood Bacille Calmette-Guerin Vaccination and Its Association With Less Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia.

Introduction: The potential for Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination to mitigate COVID-19 severity and perhaps infection susceptibility has been hypothesized, attracting global attention given its off-target benefits shown in several respiratory viral infections.

Methods: In this retrospective study, patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, China were categorized into Bacille Calmette-Guerin‒vaccinated and nonvaccinated groups. Clinical records, demography, laboratory results, and chest computed tomography scans were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between the 2 groups.

Microneedles for transdermal diagnostics: Recent advances and new horizons.

Point-of-care testing (POCT), defined as the test performed at or near a patient, has been evolving into a complement to conventional laboratory diagnosis by continually providing portable, cost-effective, and easy-to-use measurement tools. Among them, microneedle-based POCT devices have gained increasing attention from researchers due to the glorious potential for detecting various analytes in a minimally invasive manner. More recently, a novel synergism between microneedle and wearable technologies is expanding their detection capabilities.

Delivery of allergen powder for safe and effective epicutaneous immunotherapy.

Background: More effective and safer immunotherapies to manage peanut allergy are in great demand despite extensive investigation of sublingual/oral immunotherapy and epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) currently in the clinics.

Objective: We sought to develop a powder-laden, dissolvable microneedle array (PLD-MNA) for epidermal delivery of powdered allergens and to evaluate the efficacy of this novel EPIT in peanut-sensitized mice.

Methods: PLD-MNA was packaged with a mixture of powdered peanut allergen (PNA), 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (VD3), and CpG.

BCG vaccine powder-laden and dissolvable microneedle arrays for lesion-free vaccination.

Live attenuated Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) bacillus is the only licensed vaccine for tuberculosis prevention worldwide to date. It must be delivered intradermally to be effective, which causes severe skin inflammation and sometimes, permanent scars. To minimize the side effects, we developed a novel microneedle array (MNA) that could deliver live attenuated freeze-dried BCG powder into the epidermis in a painless, lesion-free, and self-applicable fashion.

Natural STING Agonist as an "Ideal" Adjuvant for Cutaneous Vaccination.

A potent adjuvant that induces strong protective immunity without incurring any significant skin reactogenicity is urgently needed for cutaneous vaccination. Here, we report that a natural agonist of stimulator of interferon genes (STING), 2'3'- cyclic guanosine monophosphate-adenosine monophosphate (cGAMP), robustly augmented and prolonged the cellular and humoral immune responses provoked by H5N1 and 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccines after a single dose of intradermal, but not intramuscular, immunization. The potency of cGAMP for cutaneous vaccination was ascribed to a large number of antigen-presenting cells resident in the skin and ready for immediate activation when cGAMP was injected.

Laser-facilitated epicutaneous immunotherapy to IgE-mediated allergy.

Allergen specific immunotherapy has been shown to be the only effective treatment for long-lasting clinical benefit to IgE-mediated allergic diseases, but a fewer than 5% of patients choose the treatment because of inconvenience and a high risk of anaphylaxis. Recently, epicutaneous allergen-specific immunotherapy (EPIT) has proven effective, yet with limitations owing to strong skin reactions. We demonstrate here safer and faster EPIT, named μEPIT, by delivering powdered allergen and adjuvants into many micropores in the epidermis.

Sample-free quantification of blood biomarkers via laser-treated skin.

Surface modified microneedle (MN) arrays are being developed to capture circulating biomarkers from the skin, but inefficiency and unreliability of the current method limit its clinical applications. We describe here that illumination of a tiny area of the skin with hemoglobin-preferably absorbent laser increased the amount of circulating biomarkers in the upper dermis by more than 1000-fold. The hemoglobin-specific light altered the permeability of capillaries leading to extravasation of molecules but not blood cells beneath the skin involved.