Oral vaccination with influenza hemagglutinin combined with human pulmonary surfactant-mimicking synthetic adjuvant SF-10 induces efficient local and systemic immunity compared with nasal and subcutaneous vaccination and provides protective immunity in mice.

•Synthetic surfactant adjuvant SF-10 promoted antigen delivery to dendritic cells.•HAv-SF-10(p.o.) induced systemic/local immunity and protected against influenza.•Mucosal anti-HAv IgA induced by HAv-SF-10(p.o.) were higher than by cholera toxin.•HAv-SF-10(p.o.) elicited Th17 cytokines markedly plus Th1 and Th2 cytokines.