TRANSDERMAL IMMUNIZATION WITH LARGE PROTEINS BY AND MEANS OF ULTRADEFORMABLE DRUG CARRIERS

By means of novel, ultradeformable and self-optimizing agent carriers called transfersomes, large molecules can be brought into the body thr ough intact permeability barriers. This permits non-invasive immunizat ion through normal skin and gives rise to a similar or even slightly h igher antibody titer than subcutaneous injections of the same immunoge n formulation. The former type of immunization also results in a highe r IgA/IgG ratio in the blood than the repeated immunogen injections, a s shown here for a soluble protein, human serum albumin, as well as fo r an integral membrane protein, gap junction protein, in mice.