Gold nanoparticles as a potential carrier for transmucosal vaccine delivery.

The transmucosal administration of vaccines leads to development of systemic as well as local immune response. However, development of delivery systems targeted at these immunologically active sites remains a practical challenge. The objective of the present study was to explore the potential of chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles (AuNps) for the transmucosal delivery of tetanus toxoid vaccine. Two different nanoparticulate systems were developed utilizing chitosan. Tetanus toxoid was loaded on chitosan nanoparticles and chitosan reduced AuNps. The current study clearly demonstrated that subcutaneous TT administration lead to generation of systemic response, but did not elicit any mucosal response. However TT loaded AuNps were able to generate a significantly higher mucosal response following oral administration. In conclusion, a novel approach utilizing chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles for the development of transmucosal vaccine formulation was successfully demonstrated.