[Dan McCann]

A team of researchers at Emory University and the Georgie Institute of Technology, both of Atlanta, have shown that using microneedle skin patches to deliver flu vaccines to mice is just as effective as intramuscular hypodermic flu immunization.

The findings were published in the April 27 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (The researchers published another study on a different influenza strain in the March 10 online edition of the Public Library of Science One.)



Microneedle patch developed by Emory U.
and Georgia Tech.

In the flu study, the research team found that microneedle vaccinations induced immune responses comparable to those produced by intramuscular hypodermic needles. One month after vaccinating the mice, reseachers infected both the microneedle and hypodermic groups, along with a number of unvaccinated mice serving as controls, with a strong dose of influenza virus. While all the unvaccinated control mice died, those vaccinated via microneedle and hypodermic needle survived.

"Our findings show that microneedle patches are just as effective at protecting against influenza as conventional hypodermic immunizations," said Richard Compans, Ph.D., Emory professor of microbiology and immunology and one of the paper's senior authors.

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