ABSTRACT
Transcutaneous immunization (TCI) and skin immune system targeting techniques are new vaccine delivery methods poised to have a major impact on approaches to immunization. Previously, the skin was seen as an impervious barrier for large molecules such as antigens and as an obstacle for vaccine delivery. Recently, our work and those of others have shown that the skin, most especially the epidermis, is an accessible and competent immune environment that is suitable for vaccine delivery. This led to a host of recent work that has focused on antigen delivery into the skin using a patch or similar means, and the establishment of a new vaccine delivery paradigm.
