A high dose of IMT504, PyNTTTGT Prototype Immunostimulatory Oligonucleotide, Does Not Alters Embryonic Development in Rats

ANDRÉS HERNANDO-INSÚA; JUAN M. RODRIGUEZ; FERNANDA ELÍAS; JUAN FLÓ; RICARDO LÓPEZ; RAUL FRANCO; NESTOR LAGO; JORGE ZORZOPULOS; ALEJANDRO D. MONTANER

OLIGONUCLEOTIDES

MARY ANN LIEBERT INC

Lugar: New Rochelle, NY ; Año: 2010 vol. 20 p. 33 - 36

1545-4576

Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) are currently being evaluated as vaccine adjuvants for inducing protective immunity. Several studies showed that both CpGs and non-CpGs ODNs can stimulate B and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in vertebrate immune systems. Maternal vaccination are becoming increasingly common, but the potential risk of vaccines formulation using ODNs adjuvants should be warrant. Recent literature suggests that exposure to CpG motifs during pregnancy could result in fetal loss and morphologic defects in mice, presumably as a consecuence of TH1 cytokine profile induction by TLR-9 activation. Taking into account that PyNTTTTGT ODNs may trigger immune activation by a different mechanism, we analized the potential teratogenic effect its prototype IMT504. Intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/Kg IMT504 in rats at day six of pregnancy did not produced a significant decrease neither in the mean number of implanted fetuses nor in live pups delivered. Malformations were neither detected in fetuses or offspring.