Transcutaneous Delivery of Immunomodulating Pollen Extract-Galactomannan Conjugate by Solid-in-Oil Nanodispersions for Pollinosis Immunotherapy

• Main Authors: Qingliang Kong, Kouki Higasijima, Rie Wakabayashi, Yoshiro Tahara, Momoko Kitaoka, Hiroki Obayashi, Yanting Hou, Noriho Kamiya, Masahiro Goto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
• Series: Pharmaceutics
• Subjects: japanese cedar pollinosis; nanocarrier; pollen extract-galactomannan conjugate; solid-in-oil nanodispersions; transcutaneous immunotherapy; vaccine
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/11/11/563

Japanese cedar pollinosis is a type I allergic disease and has already become a major public health problem in Japan. Conventional subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) cannot meet patients’ needs owing to the side effects caused by both the use of conventional whole antigen molecules in the pollen extract and the administration routes. To address these issues, a surface-modified antigen and transcutaneous administration route are introduced in this research. First, the pollen extract (PE) was conjugated to galactomannan (PE-GM) to mask immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding epitopes in the PE to avoid side effects. Second, as a safer alternative to SCIT and SLIT, transcutaneous immunotherapy (TCIT) with a solid-in-oil (S/O) nanodispersion system carrying PE-GM was proposed. Hydrophilic PE-GM was efficiently delivered through mouse skin using S/O nanodispersions, reducing the antibody secretion and modifying the type 1 T helper (Th1)/ type 2 T helper (Th2) balance in the mouse model, thereby demonstrating the potential to alleviate Japanese cedar pollinosis.