Researchers develop method to deliver vaccines directly to lymph nodes

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT recently developed a new way to deliver vaccines for polio, influenza and measles directly to lymph nodes, which produces a stronger immune response. “The lymph nodes are where all the action happens in a primary immune response,” Biological Engineering Professor Darrell Irvine said. “T cells and B cells reside there, and that’s where you need to get the vaccine to get an immune response. The more material you can get there, the better.” Irvine said the new method of delivery might be useful in HIV vaccines and for treating tumors. During the study, researchers used sentinel lymph node mapping, used by surgeons to send imaging dyes — which attach to albumin in the bloodstream — to the lymph nodes, to create their new process. “We realized that might be an approach that you could try to copy in a vaccine — design a vaccine molecule...