Bacterial toxins as tools for mucosal vaccination

Several studies have demonstrated that the biological properties of secreted bacterial toxins could be harnessed for the induction of mucosal and systemic immunity following application at epithelial surfaces. Although the properties and potential application of several of these toxins will be discussed in this review, special focus will be placed on Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A (PE). A non-toxic form of PE (ntPE) into which antigenic epitopes can be integrated appears to be a particularly promising vaccination tool, which is able to cross the polarized epithelia of the gastrointestinal, respiratory and reproductive tracts and selectively target macrophages and dendritic cells.