Mucosal approaches in Neisseria Vaccinology

Abstract

Finlay Institute is one of the pioneering organizations in Neisseria Vaccinology mainly by its contribution to N. meningitidis serogroup B outer membrane-based bivalent vaccine, VA-MENGOC-BC® (4). This was applied, intramuscularly, in more than 60 million doses. Only 10.7 millions of them correspond to Cuban young adults, children, and infants. However, most dangerous or commensally Neisseria strains enter and establish in the mucosa, where the secretory (S) IgA is the main specific guardian and is mainly induced by mucosal routes (5). In addition, colonization of young children by N. lactamica has been implicated in naturally-acquired meningococcal immunity. Nonetheless, more attention was dedicated to systemic response against Neisseria diseases. Contrary, less attention was dedicated to mucosal immune response. In addition, few mucosal vaccines exist predominantly due to the absent of safe mucosal adjuvants.