A New Method to Enhance Immune Responses to Vaccine Antigens

Conventional vaccines provide protection mainly by inducing antibodies, and adaptive immune responses include humoral and cellular immunity, mediated by B cells (which produce antibodies) and T cells, respectively. The process of vaccine-induced antibody production is relatively complex and can be divided into different types. These types are classified according to the type that depends on the main component of the vaccine, that is, the antigen. Different antigens activate different pathways to produce different types of antibodies. By simulating the mode of action of the virus, the vaccine is recognized by the immune system after being inoculated into the body, thereby stimulating B cells to differentiate and proliferate into plasma cells and secrete antibodies against the virus. Antibodies are free in the blood and lymphatic circulatory system, bind to the virus when it is recognized, and use phagocytes to degrade the virus.

Enhancing the antigenic immunogenicity of vaccines is a key consideration in the preparation of vaccines. Within a certain range, increasing the dose of the vaccine will enhance the immunogenicity, but if the dose reaches a plateau, the effect will be lost. At the same time, the higher the dose, the lower the safety, and there will be a greater chance of side effects. In addition to dose optimization, adjuvant addition and optimization is one of the common methods to enhance antigen immunogenicity. An immune adjuvant is an immunomodulatory agent that is used before or simultaneously with an antigen to enhance the immune response by specific or non-specific. Adjuvants can induce the body to produce a long-term and efficient specific immune response, improve the body's protective ability, and at the same time reduce the dosage of immune substances and reduce the production cost of vaccines. Therefore, the development and optimization of immune adjuvants are very important for the application of vaccines.

Figure 1 Mechanism of action of adjuvants.^[1]

With the deepening of immunology research and the rapid development of genetic engineering technology, immunomodulatory molecular adjuvants have been paid more and more attention in recent years. Cytokines are a class of immunomodulatory substances that produce responsiveness after the body's immune system is activated by antigens and various immune adjuvants, and have obvious immune adjuvant effects. The characteristics of cytokines and various immunomodulatory functions give them unique advantages over other types of immune adjuvants. Recently, some researchers have used cytokines as an optimized platform to enhance the immunogenicity of antigens. By binding cytokines to viral vaccine membranes, the efficacy of the vaccine is enhanced while retaining the biological activity of the cytokines themselves. By binding to the membrane, cytokines can stably package cell particles, which is conducive to reducing the pertinence of vaccines and making them better applicable to all individuals for protection. This also has great potential in adjuvant research for vaccines.

The Advantages of this platform include:

• Enhance immunogenicity
• Reduce vaccine doses
• Wide applicability

Potential Applications

• Research on vaccine adjuvants
• Vaccine Development

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Reference

1. Chiarella P, Massi E, De Robertis M, Signori E, Fazio VM. Adjuvants in vaccines and for immunisation: current trends. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2007 Oct;7(10):1551-62. doi: 10.1517/14712598.7.10.1551.