Cholesterol as an inbuilt immunoadjuvant for a lipopeptide vaccine against group A Streptococcus infection.
J Colloid Interface Sci
; 663: 43-52, 2024 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38387185
ABSTRACT
Peptide-based vaccines can trigger highly specific immune responses, although peptides alone are usually unable to confer strong humoral or cellular immunity. Consequently, peptide antigens are administered with immunostimulatory adjuvants, but only a few are safe and effective for human use. To overcome this obstacle, herein a peptide antigen was lipidated to effectively anchor it to liposomes and emulsion. A peptide antigen B cell epitope from Group A Streptococcus M protein was conjugated to a universal T helper epitope, the pan DR-biding epitope (PADRE), alongside a lipidic moiety cholesterol. Compared to a free peptide antigen, the lipidated version (LP1) adopted a helical conformation and self-assembled into small nanoparticles. Surprisingly, LP1 alone induced the same or higher antibody titers than liposomes or emulsion-based formulations. In addition, antibodies produced by mice immunized with LP1 were more opsonic than those induced by administering the antigen with incomplete Freund's adjuvant. No side effects were observed in the immunized mice and no excessive inflammatory immune responses were detected. Overall, this study demonstrated how simple conjugation of cholesterol to a peptide antigen can produce a safe and efficacious vaccine against Group A Streptococcus - the leading cause of superficial infections and the bacteria responsible for deadly post-infection autoimmune disorders.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vaccines
/
Adjuvants, Immunologic
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Colloid Interface Sci
/
J. colloid interface sci
/
Journal of colloid and interface science
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Saudi Arabia
Country of publication:
United States