Current progress in the development of mucosal vaccines

Abstract Mucosal vaccination has several advantages compared with that of injection-type vaccination. Secretory IgA(SIgA) produced at mucosal surface plays a key role for inactivation of toxins and inhibition of pathogen invasion. Although oral or nasal vaccination with attenuated live microorganisms have been shown to be effective in the induction of protective immunity, these types of vaccine have the ability to infect transiently to the host. For the development of safe and effective mucosal vaccine, an obvious strategy is the preparation of inactivated subunit-type mucosal vaccine. Here we introduce our frontier technology for the development of rice-based oral vaccines, as a new generation of mucosal vaccine. Further, we also discuss recent progress in the development of other types of mucosal vaccine and adjuvant.