Seminal Vesicle Fluid Increases the Efficacy of Intravaginal HSV-2 Vaccination

A. VARESE; F. REMES LENICOV; M. GONZALEZ PRINZ; A. PALETTA; G. ERNST; C. MAETO; A. MERLOTTI; J. SABATTÉ; P. HOLGADO; E. DANTAS; J. GEFFNER; A. CEBALLOS

MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017

1933-0219

Once considered merely as a vehicle for spermatozoa, it is now clear that seminal plasma induces a variety of biological actions on the female reproductive tissues able to modulate the immune response against paternal antigens. To our knowledge, the influence of seminal plasma on the immune response against sexually transmitted pathogens has not been yet evaluated. We here analyzed whether the seminal vesicle fluid (SVF), which contributes almost 60% of the seminal plasma volume in mice, could modulate the immune response against HSV-2. We found that SVF does not modify the course of primary infection, but markedly improved protection conferred by vaginal vaccination with inactivated HSV-2 against a lethal challenge.This protective effect was shown to be associated to a robust memory immune response mediated by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in both the lymph nodes draining thevagina and the vaginal mucosa, the site of viral replication. In contrast thewidespread notion that seminal plasma acts as an immunosuppressive agent, ourresults suggest that SVF might improve the female immune response againstsexually transmitted pathogens.