Oral adenoviral-based vaccines: historical perspective and future opportunity.

Adenoviral vaccines delivered orally have been used for decades to prevent respiratory illness, but are now being seriously explored again as a platform technology to make vaccines against a variety of pathogens. Years of use in military populations as a preventative measure for adenoviral infection have demonstrated the safety of oral administration of adenovirus. The advantages of using this approach as a platform technology for vaccines include rapid development and distribution, as well as ease of administration. Recent discoveries may allow this platform approach to reach the clinic within a few years.