A liquid crystal of ascorbyl palmitate, used as vaccine platform, provides sustained release of antigen and has intrinsic pro-inflammatory and adjuvant activities which are dependent on MyD88 adaptor protein

MARÍA F. SÁNCHEZ VALLECILLO; MARÍA M. MINGUITO DE LA ESCALERA; MARÍA V. AGUIRRE; GABRIELA V. ULLIO GAMBOA; SANTIAGO D. PALMA; LETICIA GONZÁLEZ-CINTADO; ANA L. CHIODETTI; GERMÁN JOSÉ SOLDANO; GABRIEL MORÓN; DANIEL A. ALLEMANDI; CARLOS ARDAVÍN; MARÍA C. PISTORESI-PALENCIA; BELKYS A. MALETTO

JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 214 p. 12 - 22

0168-3659

Abstract Modern subunit vaccines require the development of new adjuvant strategies. Recently, we showed that CpG-ODN formulated with a liquid crystal nanostructure formed by self-assembly of 6-O-ascorbyl palmitate (Coa-ASC16) is an attractive system for promoting an antigen-specific immune response to weak antigens. Here, we showed that after subcutaneous injection of mice with near-infrared fluorescent dye-labeled {OVA} antigen formulated with Coa-ASC16, the dye-OVA was retained at the injection site for a longer period than when soluble dye-OVA was administered. Coa-ASC16 alone elicited a local inflammation, but how this material triggers this response has not been described yet. Although it is known that some materials used as a platform are not immunologically inert, very few studies have directly focused on this topic. In this study, we explored the underlying mechanisms concerning the interaction between Coa-ASC16 and the immune system and we found that the whole inflammatory response elicited by Coa-ASC16 (leukocyte recruitment and IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-12 production) was dependent on the MyD88 protein. TLR2, TLR4, {TLR7} and NLRP3-inflammasome signaling were not required for induction of this inflammatory response. Coa-ASC16 induced local release of self-DNA, and in TLR9-deficient mice IL-6 production was absent. In addition, Coa-ASC16 revealed an intrinsic adjuvant activity which was affected by MyD88 and IL-6 absence. Taken together these results indicate that Coa-ASC16 used as a vaccine platform is effective due to the combination of the controlled release of antigen and its intrinsic pro-inflammatory activity. Understanding how Coa-ASC16 works might have significant implications for rational vaccine design.