AUTHOR=Jawalagatti Vijayakumar , Kirthika Perumalraja , Lee John Hwa 

TITLE=Oral mRNA Vaccines Against Infectious Diseases- A Bacterial Perspective [Invited]

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.884862

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.884862

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were granted emergency approval in record time in the history of vaccinology and played an instrumental role in limiting the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. The success of these vaccines resulted from over 3 decades of research from many scientists. However, the development of orally administrable mRNA vaccine development is surprisingly underexplored. Our group specializing in <italic>Salmonella</italic>-based vaccines explored the possibility of oral mRNA vaccine development. Oral delivery was made possible by the exploitation of the Semliki Forest viral replicon and <italic>Salmonella</italic> vehicle for transgene amplification and gene delivery, respectively. Herein we highlight the prospect of developing oral replicon-based mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases based on our recent primary studies on SARS-CoV-2. Further, we discuss the potential advantages and limitations of bacterial gene delivery.</p>