Potentials and status of archaeolipids in vaccine construction

Micro- and nano-lipidic carriers used for the entrapment, encapsulation, and precise targeting of the bioactive compounds offer significant advantages to the biomedical, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmeceutical industries. These lipid and phospholipid-based vesicles can improve the solubility, permeation, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and bioavailability of the encapsulated material. In addition, nano-sized phospholipid vesicles have attained the highest success rate in commercialization among the available drug encapsulation technologies. Nevertheless, developing industrially acceptable products remains a challenge. Instability in the biological environments and their sensitivity to changes in the pH, temperature, and enzymes can be considered as the major disadvantages of conventional lipidic carriers. To overcome these problems, a new generation of phospho/lipid-based carrier systems was developed using ingredients from microorganisms living in extremely harsh environments (i.e., Archaebacteria). The present entry aims to review the unique features of archaeolipids and recent developments in their application for the encapsulation of therapeutic materials as well as adjuvants and vaccine candidates.