The Effect of Intranasal Immunization with Streptococcus Pilus Protein on Nasopharyngeal pIgR and IgA Expression in Rats

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) causes pneumococcal disease, which has high mortality and morbidity in children under two years of age, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. This disease can be prevented by immunization, but the current vaccine, pili protein vaccine (PPV), is less likely to protect children under the age of two and only protects against the serotypes contained in the vaccine. Hence, a new vaccine is needed to enable full protection. The use of bacterial pili proteins may offer an alternative new vaccine. Therefore, the determination of the ability of such proteins to stimulate mucosal immunity with indicator expression of pIgR and s-IgA is required.