Patent ID: 7229621

Claim:
A method for vaccinating a mammal against a target antigen, comprising: introducing into the mammal by disrupting the stratum corneum an effective dose of the target antigen or an epitope(s) thereof; and administering to the mammal a topical treatment which in the absence of antigen is sufficient to increase the number of dendritic cells migrating to a lymphoid organ, wherein the topical treatment comprises a lipophilic molecule of <500 daltons capable of traversing the stratum corneum and having the formula selected from the following formulas: wherein R 1 and R 2 are selected independently from the group consisting of alkyl side chains containing 1 to 16 carbon atoms, C 1 to C 16 substituted alkyl, C 3 to C 10 cycloalkyl, C 3 to C 10 substituted cycloalkyl, C 2 to C 10 alkenyl, C 2 to C 10 substituted alkenyl, C 2 to C 10 alkynyl, and C 2 to C 10 substituted alkynyl; wherein R 3 and R 4 are independently hydrogen atom, hydroxy group, or are linked to form a cyclic ring, which comprises unsaturated C 6 cycloalkyl.