Microfluidic Production of Polymeric Core-Shell Microspheres for the Delayed Pulsatile Release of Bovine Serum Albumin as a Model Antigen

For many vaccines, multiple injections are required to confer protective immunity against targeted pathogens. These injections often consist of a primer administration followed by a booster administration of the vaccine a few weeks or months later. A single-injection vaccine formulation that provides for both administrations could greatly improve the convenience and vaccinee’s compliance. In this study, we developed parenterally injectable core-shell microspheres with a delayed pulsatile release profile that could serve as the booster in such a vaccine formulation. These microspheres contained bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the model antigen and poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) with various DL-lactide:glycolide monomer ratios as the shell material. Highly monodisperse particles with different particle characteristics were obtained using a microfluidic setup. All formulations exhibited a pulsatile in vitro release of BSA after an adjustable lag time. This lag time increased with the increasing lactide content of the polymer and ranged from 3 to 7 weeks. Shell thickness and bovine serum albumin loading had no effect on the release behavior, which could be ascribed to the degradation mechanism of the polymer, with bulk degradation being the main pathway. Co-injection of the core-shell microspheres together with a solution of the antigen that serves as the primer would allow for the desired biphasic release profile. Altogether, these findings show that injectable core-shell microspheres combined with a primer are a promising alternative for the current multiple-injection vaccines.