HBHA vaccination may require both Th1 and Th17 immune responses to protect mice against tuberculosis.

Almost one century after the discovery of the BCG vaccine, tuberculosis remains a major cause of global mortality and morbidity, emphasizing the urgent need to design more efficient vaccines. The heparin-binding haemagglutinin (HBHA) appears to be a promising vaccine candidate, as it was shown to afford protection to mice against a challenge infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis when combined with the strong adjuvant DDA/MPL (dimethyldioctadecyl-ammonium bromide/monophosphoryl lipid A), a TLR4 ligand. In this study, we investigated the immunological response and protection of mice immunized with HBHA formulated in lipid-containing nanoparticles and adjuvanted with CpG, a TLR9 ligand. Subcutaneous immunization with this HBHA formulation led to a marked Th1 response, characterized by high IFN-γ levels, but no significant IL-17 production, both in spleen and lung, in contrast to DDA/MPL MPL-formulated HBHA, which induced both IFN-γ and IL-17. This cytokine profile was also observed in BCG-primed mice and persisted after M. tuberculosis infection. No significant protection was obtained against challenge infection after vaccination with the nanoparticle-CpG formulation, and this was associated with a failure to mount a memory immune response. These results suggest the importance of both Th1 and Th17 immune responses for vaccine-induced immunity.

Airway delivery of peptides and proteins using nanoparticles.

Delivery of peptides and proteins via the airways is one of the most exciting potential applications of nanomedicine. These macromolecules could be used for many therapeutic applications, however due to their poor stability in physiological medium and difficulties in delivering them across biological barriers, they are very difficult to use in therapy. Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems have emerged as one of the most promising technologies to overcome these limitations, owing mainly to their proven capacity to cross biological barriers and to enter cells in high yields, thus improving delivery of macromolecules. In this review, we summarize the current advances in nanoparticle designed for transmucosal delivery of peptides and proteins. Challenges that must be overcome in order to derive clinical benefits are also discussed.

Influence of surface charge and inner composition of nanoparticles on intracellular delivery of proteins in airway epithelial cells.

The delivery of protein in the airway using nanoparticles (NP) is an emerging strategy that shows encouraging results in vivo for several applications. However, the mechanisms by which NP deliver proteins to the inside of cells remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the intracellular delivery of ovalbumin (OVA) in human airway cells by two porous cationic polysaccharides nanoparticles. These NP have the same surface charge density but differ in that their inner core contains either cationic or anionic charges (respectively: NP(+) and DGNP(+)). Confocal microscopy showed a rapid uptake of both NP by human airway cells, followed by a significant accumulation in clathrin vesicles and early endosomes. Both NP were found to associate OVA in a quantitative manner, and this association was stable even in presence of serum proteins. We observed that the two NP greatly increased OVA uptake by human airway cells, meanwhile FRET studies using FITC-labelled NP and TRITC-labelled OVA showed a gradual release of OVA from NP within cells, and this was much faster with DGNP(+) than NP(+). These results were confirmed using OVA-DQ to follow OVA degradation fragments within cells. Both NP increased intracellular proteolysis of OVA, however DGNP(+) facilitated OVA escape from endosomes. Studies with trypsin and pepsin at different pH strongly suggested that both NP can protect (in the extracellular medium) or promote (in acidic endosomes) protein proteolysis, depending on the environment. Interestingly, the mechanisms involved could be explained as a function of protein global charge at different pH. All these results confirm the importance of not only the surface charge but also the inner composition of NP in determining their efficacy as tools for the delivery of proteins to different cellular compartments.

Study of serum interaction with a cationic nanoparticle: Implications for in vitro endocytosis, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity.

We used well-characterized and positively charged nanoparticles (NP(+)) to investigate the importance of cell culture conditions, specifically the presence of serum and proteins, on NP(+) physicochemical characteristics, and the consequences for their endocytosis and genotoxicity in bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE14o-). NP(+) surface charge was significantly reduced, proportionally to NP(+)/serum and NP(+)/BSA ratios, while NP(+) size was not modified. Microscopy studies showed high endocytosis of NP(+) in 16HBE14o-, and serum/proteins impaired this internalization in a dose-dependent manner. Toxicity studies showed no cytotoxicity, even for very high doses of NP(+). No genotoxicity was observed with classic comet assay while primary oxidative DNA damage was observed when using the lesion-specific repair enzyme, formamidopyrimidine DNA-glycosylase (FPG). The micronucleus test showed NP(+) genotoxicity only for very high doses that cannot be attained in vivo. The low toxicity of these NP(+) might be explained by their high exocytosis from 16HBE14o- cells. Our results confirm the importance of serum and proteins on nanoparticles endocytosis and genotoxicity.

Characterization of endocytosis and exocytosis of cationic nanoparticles in airway epithelium cells.

A major challenge of drug delivery using colloids via the airway is to understand the mechanism implied in their interactions with epithelial cells. The purpose of this work was to characterize the process of endocytosis and exocytosis of cationic nanoparticles (NPs) made of maltodextrin which were developed as a delivery system for antigens in vaccine applications. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that these NP are rapidly endocytosed after as little as 3 min incubation, and that the endocytosis was also faster than NP binding since most of the NPs were found in the middle of the cells around the nuclei. A saturation limit was observed after a 40 min incubation, probably due to an equilibrium becoming established between endocytosis and exocytosis. Endocytosis was dramatically reduced at 4 degrees C compared with 37 degrees C, or by NaN(3) treatment, both results suggesting an energy dependent process. Protamine pretreatment of the cells inhibited NPs uptake and we found that clathrin pathway is implied in their endocytosis. Cholesterol depletion increased NP uptake by 300% and this phenomenon was explained by the fact that cholesterol depletion totally blocked NP exocytosis. These results suggest that these cationic NPs interact with anionic sites, are quickly endocytosed via the clathrin pathway and that their exocytosis is cholesterol dependent, and are similar to those obtained in other studies with viruses such as influenza.