PyNTTTTGT oligonucleotide IMT504 is a potent vaccine adjuvant

MONTANER A, ELÍAS F, RODRÍGUEZ JM, FLO J, LOPEZ R AND ZORZOPULOS J.

Baltimore, Maryland. USA.

Conferencia; Eighth Annual Conference on Vaccine Research; 2005

National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, NIH.

 PyNTTTTGT oligodeoxinucleotides (ODNs) cause activation, proliferation and immunoglobulin secretion on B cells, and the expression of co-stimulatory molecules on plasmacytoid dendritic cells of primates and rats (1). The goal of this study was to investigate the adjuvant properties of PyNTTTTGT prototype IMT504 ODN on different human vaccines such as Flu, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A and Rabies. Addition of IMT504 to commercial vaccines, compared to the antigen alone, resulted in: a) higher antibody responses (Flu, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis A)  b) earlier antibody responses (Flu and Hepatitis A) and  c) the need of much less antigen to obtain a good antibody response (Flu and Rabies) Since rat and monkey cells are significantly less immunostimulated in vitro by PyNTTTTGT ODNs than human cells, it can be predicted an excellent performance for human vaccination. Moreover, preclinical trials have demonstrated that IMT504 is an extremely safe drug.  References: (1) J. Immunol., 2003, 171: 3697-3704.