# FcRn-Targeted Mucosal Vaccination Against Influenza Infections

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2021 · $552,555

## Abstract

Project Summary
Influenza A viruses directly cause acute airway inflammation or predispose to secondary
bacterial infections. A highly antigenic variability is the main reason for repeated infections.
Immune protection induced by current vaccines is closely strain-specific and the vaccines need
to be updated each year; the availability of strain-matched vaccines usually lags behind these
antigenic changes. Therefore, it is a major goal to broaden the range of influenza vaccine
efficacy by using the conserved influenza virus antigens in the hope of inducing cross-protective
immunity against both antigenically similar and different viruses. Since influenza virus initiates
its infection at respiratory tract, it is important to induce the cross-protective and long-lasting
mucosal immunity. However, our ability to safely deliver vaccine antigens across the mucosal
barrier for generation of an effective mucosal immunity is very limited, especially for the elderly,
young people and pregnant women. We recently found that the mucosal delivery of vaccine
antigens by the neonatal Fc Receptor (FcRn) can engender effective immune responses
against mucosal infections. These findings lead us to further examine whether FcRn-mediated
airway delivery of the influenza antigens induces cross-protective immunity. Therefore, we will
intranasally immunize mice and ferret with the conserved influenza antigens that are targeting to
FcRn and fully analyze their mucosal and systemic immune responses. Finally, the immunized
mice and the ferret will be challenged with virus antigenically similar or dissimilar viruses to
evaluate the efficacy of protection or cross protection. The knowledge gained from this study will
be important for public health in humans and animals.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144383
- **Project number:** 5R01AI146063-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** XIAOPING ZHU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $552,555
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-14 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144383

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144383, FcRn-Targeted Mucosal Vaccination Against Influenza Infections (5R01AI146063-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144383. Licensed CC0.

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