Recent Advances in Application of Nanoparticles in Fish Vaccine Delivery

There is a constant need for the development of efficient vaccines and delivery systems to prevent and control the emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in aquaculture. There are innumerable infectious diseases for which the development of efficient vaccines has been difficult to achieve. The failure is mainly due to the inability to design vaccines evoking appropriate immune responses. The use of nanoparticles has provided a tremendous opportunity to design vaccine delivery systems that are efficient in targeted delivery, providing stability to antigens, and act as efficient adjuvants. Many of the nanoparticles are able to enter the antigen presenting cells by different pathways and induce appropriate immune responses to the antigen. A number of different nanoparticles are used in fish vaccine delivery, which includes biodegradable polymers, nanoliposomes, carbon nanotubes, calcium phosphate, and immunostimulating complexes (ISCOMs), among which poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) and chitosan are the most studied form of nanoparticles to date. Hence, the use and application of other forms of nanoparticles need to be explored. This review provides an overview of the use of different nanoparticle systems for the delivery of fish vaccines and compares the potential of these delivery systems for the development of new vaccines against different fish pathogens.