Poly-D,L-lactide-co-poly(ethylene glycol) microspheres as potential vaccine delivery systems

Adjuvants aimed at increasing the immunogenicity of recombinant antigens remain a focus in vaccine development. Worldwide, there is currently considerable care for the development of biodegradable microspheres as controlled release of vaccines, since the major disadvantage of several currently available vaccines is the need for repeated administration. Microspheres prepared from the biodegradable and biocompatible polymers, the polylactide (PLA) or polylactide-co-glycolide (PLGA), have been shown to be effective adjuvants for a number of antigens. This review mainly focuses on polylactide-co-poly(ethylene glycol) (PELA) microspheres adjuvant as vaccine delivery systems by summarizing our and other research groups' investigation on properties of the microspheres formulation encapsulating several kinds of antigens. The results indicate that compared with the commonly used PLA and PLGA, PELA showed several potentials in vaccine delivery systems, which may be due to the block copolymer have its capability to provide a biomaterial having a broad range of amphiphilic structure. PELA microspheres can control the rate of release of entrapped antigens and therefore, offer potential for the development of single-dose vaccines. The PELA microspheres have shown great potential as a next generation adjuvant to replace or complement existing aluminum salts for vaccine potential. The review mainly aims to promote the investigation of PELA microspheres adjuvant for antigens for worldwide researcher. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.