Adjuvant formulation for use in vaccines to elicit both cell-mediated and humoral immunity.

Adjuvant formulations which elicit both humoral and cell-mediated immunity will be required for vaccines based on peptides, viral and bacterial subunits and genetically engineered antigens. This report describes an adjuvant formulation which increases both cell-mediated and humoral immunity and is free of significant side effects encountered with other adjuvants or vehicles. The components include the threonyl analogue of muramyl dipeptide, Tween 80, Pluronic L121 and squalane. This formulation was found to be effective with several antigens, in several species, including rodents, cats and monkeys. These results suggest that the formulation will be useful for both human and veterinary vaccines.

Dust exposure challenge test as a measure of potential allergenicity and occupational disease risk in handling of Ispaghula products.

It is known that workers in the pharmaceutical industry, and nurses, can become sensitized and develop allergic respiratory symptoms by handling bulk laxatives containing Ispaghula powder. Fifteen individuals allergic to Ispaghula were challenged with a commercially available Ispaghula product and three other products manufactured in a way to make them less dusty. The results show that the use of products with smaller amounts of airborne particles results in a lower incidence of symptoms and thus probably reduces the potential occupational risk of sensitization to the Ispaghula allergen.

Chemotaxins in cotton mill dust: possible etiologic agent(s) in byssinosis.

Through the application of a simplified in vitro assay for chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, potent chemotaxins have been found to exist in cotton mill dust extracts. These substances may be involved in the recruitment of cells to pulmonary surfaces and in the etiology of byssinosis in textile workers who inhale cotton dust. The chemotaxins were extracted from cotton dust with alkaline aqueous solution and purified by chromatography on paper and Sephadex G-25. The active agents were readily water-soluble, stable to heat at 100 degrees C in water, inactivated by hydrolytic conditions, anionic, nonfluorescent, and had molecular weights of 200 to 2,000 daltons. Lacinilene, a fluorescent component of cotton dust reported by others to be chemotactic, was excluded by these properties and did not stimulate migration of leukocytes obtained from a variety of animal species. Pluronic polyol F68, a polypropylene glycol used as a dispersing agent, was found to represent a new class of chemokinetic substances and may account for earlier reports of chemotactic activity of lacinilene.