Principles of transcutaneous immunization using cholera toxin as an adjuvant

Transcutaneous immunization is a novel strategy for immunization employing topical application of antigen and adjuvant to the skin surface and resulti ng in detectable antigen/adjuvant specific IgG in plasma and mucosal secret ions. In this study we show that transcutaneous immunization with cholera t oxin (CT) as an adjuvant can be used in several inbred mouse strains with v arying H-2 major histocompatibility complex genes (C57BL/6 (H-2(b)), BALB/c (H-2(d)), and C3H (H-2(k))). Although the primary anti-CT antibody respons es reflected previously described MHC restriction patterns for this protein , the differences were overcome after two booster immunizations. Potent ant ibody responses against hen egg lysozyme and/or diphtheria toroid were obse rved using CT as adjuvant. We also demonstrate that the unshaved dorsal or ventral surface of the ear can be effectively used for transcutaneous immun ization and that gentle swabbing with alcohol increases the magnitude of th e host immune response. Together these data further our understanding of th e principles governing this new platform technology and support its integra tion into novel and existing human vaccine strategies. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.