Pharmaceutical Aspects of Intranasal Delivery of Vaccines Using Particulate Systems

The nasal route offers a promising opportunity for the delivery of vaccines. This review analyses the opportunities and novel delivery strategies based on particulate systems for the nasal delivery of vaccines, including liposomes, proteosomes, virosomes, nano- and microparticulate systems, with and without adjuvants. The influence of pharmaceutical aspects of the particulate formulations on nasal delivery is analysed. Recently developed delivery devices for nasal vaccination are also described. Potential barriers to clinical and commercial success of some novel intranasal vaccines are critically evaluated. Although particulate systems may offer potential in the nasal delivery of vaccines by enhancing uptake by antigen-presenting cells, the real success in enhancement of vaccine delivery can only be achieved by careful design and manipulation of physicochemical properties of particulate vaccine delivery systems.