Nature Biotechnology

Nature Biotechnology (2012) doi:10.1038/nbt.2344 Authors: Frank Wegmann, Kate H Gartlan, Ali M Harandi, Sarah A Brinckmann, Margherita Coccia, William R Hillson, Wai Ling Kok, Suzanne Cole, Ling-Pei Ho, Teresa Lambe, Manoj Puthia, Catharina Svanborg, Erin M Scherer, George Krashias, Adam Williams, Joseph N Blattman, Philip D Greenberg, Richard A Flavell, Amin E Moghaddam, Neil C Sheppard & Quentin J Sattentau

Protection against mucosally transmitted infections probably requires immunity at the site of pathogen entry, yet there are no mucosal adjuvant formulations licensed for human use. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) represents a family of organic polycations used as nucleic acid transfection reagents in vitro and DNA vaccine delivery vehicles in vivo. Here we show that diverse PEI forms have potent mucosal adjuvant activity for viral subunit glycoprotein antigens.