Source
Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University,Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan. kurono@khosp3.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Abstract
To determine the efficacy of a mucosal vaccine against nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi), mice were immunized nasally, orally, intratracheally, or intraperitoneally with NTHi antigen together with cholera toxin. Antigen-specific IgA antibody titers in nasal washes and the numbers of antigen-specific IgA-producing cells in nasal passages showed the greatest increases in mice immunized nasally. Cytokine analysis showed that interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-10 were induced by nasal immunization, suggesting that Th2- and Th1-type cells were generated. Furthermore, bacterial clearance of a homologous strain of NTHi from the nasal tract was significantly enhanced in the nasal immunization group. These findings suggest that nasal immunization is an effective vaccination regimen for the induction of antigen-specific mucosal immune responses, which reduce the colonization of NTHi in the nasal tract.