Oral mucosa immunity: ultimate strategy to stop spreading of pandemic viruses

Hyesun Jang; Michele Matsuoka; Marcelo Freire

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1220610

Oral mucosa immunity: ultimate strategy to stop spreading of pandemic viruses

Front Immunol. 2023 Oct 19:14:1220610. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1220610. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hyesun Jang¹, Michele Matsuoka¹, Marcelo Freire^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Genomic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States.
² Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.

Abstract

Global pandemics are most likely initiated via zoonotic transmission to humans in which respiratory viruses infect airways with relevance to mucosal systems. Out of the known pandemics, five were initiated by respiratory viruses including current ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Striking progress in vaccine development and therapeutics has helped ameliorate the mortality and morbidity by infectious agents. Yet, organism replication and virus spread through mucosal tissues cannot be directly controlled by parenteral vaccines. A novel mitigation strategy is needed to elicit robust mucosal protection and broadly neutralizing activities to hamper virus entry mechanisms and inhibit transmission. This review focuses on the oral mucosa, which is a critical site of viral transmission and promising target to elicit sterile immunity. In addition to reviewing historic pandemics initiated by the zoonotic respiratory RNA viruses and the oral mucosal tissues, we discuss unique features of the oral immune responses. We address barriers and new prospects related to developing novel therapeutics to elicit protective immunity at the mucosal level to ultimately control transmission.

Keywords: RNA viruses; mucosal vaccine; oral mucosa; pandemics; saliva immunity.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Mouth Mucosa
Pandemics / prevention & control
Vaccines*
Viruses*

Substances

Vaccines

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by The Conrad Prebys Foundation Grant, U.S. Public Health Service Grants NIH R21DE02962 from the National Institute of Dental and Cranial Research (given to MF).