Ji, WangShah, DilipChen, XinyuanAnderson, R. RoxWu, Mei2015-05-042015Ji, Wang, Dilip Shah, Xinyuan Chen, R. Rox Anderson, and Mei X. Wu. 2015. “A micro-sterile inflammation array as an adjuvant for influenza vaccines.” Nature communications 5 (1): 4447. doi:10.1038/ncomms5447. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5447.2041-1723http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:15034938There is an urgent need of adjuvants for cutaneous vaccination. Here we report that micro-sterile inflammation induced at inoculation sites can augment immune responses to influenza vaccines in animal models. The inoculation site is briefly illuminated with a handheld, non-ablative fractional laser before the vaccine is intradermally administered, which creates an array of self-healing microthermal zones (MTZs) in the skin. The dying cells in the MTZs send “danger” signals that attract a large number of antigen-presenting cells, in particular, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) around each MTZ forming a micro-sterile inflammation array. A pivotal role for pDCs in the adjuvanticity is ascertained by significant abrogation of the immunity after systemic depletion of pDCs, local application of a TNF-α inhibitor, or null mutation of IFN regulatory factor7 (IRF7). In contrast to conventional adjuvants that cause persistent inflammation and skin lesions, micro-sterile inflammation enhances efficacy of influenza vaccines, yet with diminished adverse effects.en-USJournal Article2015-05-0410.1038/ncomms5447