Liposomal vaccine formulations as prophylactic agents: design considerations for modern vaccines

Liposomal-based vaccines in fungal infection 
treatment
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that include yeasts, 
molds and mushrooms. Several yeasts and molds are 
common pathogenic agents, especially in immunocom-
promised patients [
101
, 
102
]. Antibiotic resistance is 
being detected, not only in isolates from the USA but also 
in other developed countries, in different fungal species 
(like Candida and Aspergillus) [
103
]. Due to the threat 
of antifungal resistance, other therapeutic approaches 
should be investigated, and liposomal vaccines may play 
a significant role. To the best of our knowledge, the litera-
ture review presents liposome-based vaccines for Can-
dida sp. infections but limited information is available for 
other fungal pathogens. Studies investigating other fun-
gal species with elevated infection prevalence, like Asper-
gillus, Fusarium, Coccidioidomyces and Zygomycetes 
sp., have been identified but their treatment approach 
does not include liposomal vaccines, and we invite fur-
ther reading on the topic [
101
, 
104
, 
105
]. We will discuss 
ahead information available for liposomal vaccine devel-
opment for the prophylactic treatment of Candida sp. 
infections (Table 
5
).
The first report dealing with the study and develop-
ment of a vaccine to treat candidiasis, encapsulated the 
mannan adhesin portion of Candida albicans [
106
]. The 
adhesin protion of the mannan of two C. albicans sero-
types (A and B) were incorporated in PC:Chol liposomes 
(3.2:1 molar ratio). Mice were vaccinated (intravenously) 
during a period of 5–6 weeks and challenged with C. 
albicans infection, presenting increasing resistance to 
disseminated disease. Furthermore, antiserum aggluti-
nins (IgM-type antibodies) from the immunized mice 
were studied for their humoral protective characteristics 
against C. tropicalis infection, demonstrating the effi-
cacy of the vaccine. Subsequently, researchers decided 
to investigate the effectiveness of the monoclonal anti-
bodies obtained from the previous study in a vaginal 
candidiasis model [
107
]. Similarly, the vaccine (L-mann) 
was prepared by the mannan adhesin fraction incorpo-
ration into PC:Chol liposomes. Mice were immunized 
intravenously once a week for 5 weeks prior vaginal