Use of inactivated Escherichia coli enterotoxins to enhance respiratory mucosal adjuvanticity during vaccination in swine. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 18: 1996–1998. [Medline] [CrossRef

In order to augment responses to respiratory vaccines in swine, various adjuvants were intranasally coadministered with a foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) antigen to pigs. Detoxified Escherichia coli enterotoxins LTK63 and LTR72 enhanced antigen-specific mucosal and systemic immunity, demonstrating their efficacy as adjuvants for nonreplicating antigens upon intranasal immunization in swine. Most pathogens initiate infections through contact with the mucosal surfaces of their hosts, thereby leading to colonization of the epithelium and/or invasion of tissues. Vaccination strat-egies that induce the production of mucosal immunity are desirable, as this approach can reduce the contact of pathogens with epithelial cells and possibly prevent dissemination to pe-ripheral sites of the body. This is particularly important in the respiratory tracts of animals, as many of the potent innate barrier defenses present in the digestive system (e.g., low stom-ach pH, digestive enzymes, etc.) are not found in the airways. Given that the mucosae are inherently toleragenic (1), the us