Interest in administering vaccines mucosally, rather than by intramuscular injections, has been growing since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was declared in 2020.
Working in collaboration, scientists from the Pandemic Sciences Institute and The Pirbright Institute used pigs as a model to explore immune system responses to mucosally-administered flu vaccines, which target viruses at the point of entry.
Comprehensive measurement of immune responses in human lungs is not possible. To overcome this challenge, the researchers used pigs - whose respiratory tract is anatomically and functionally similar to that of humans - as a model to define key immune responses.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) website.