Nanoscale vaccines: Design, delivery, and applications

To date, various nanoscale vaccines have been developed to combat various striking diseases, including bacterial/viral infections and malignancies. Owing to the invention of advanced safe and smart nanomaterials and de novo approaches, the design and production of sound nanovaccines with desirable safety and effectivity are now becoming plausible. The next-generation vaccines such as mRNA vaccines formulated as nanovaccines provide improved innate and adaptive immunity. Depending on the vaccine compositions, they can activate B and/or T lymphocytes and yield optimized adjuvanticity impacts. Attributable to the unique physicochemical features of nanovaccines, they can also interact with different bio-components of the human immune system/other cells and induce undesired biological consequences. The designed vaccines should show the desired immunogenic functions without induction of cytokine storm or immune tolerance. To prevent any inadvertent risks, it is crucially important to minimize the undesired nonspecific interactions of nanovaccines with off-target cells. This chapter will provide comprehensive insights into nanoscale vaccine development and applications. Further, various vaccine delivery systems are imparted, and challenges are discussed.