Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Toxicol Lett. 2013 May 10;219(1):42-8. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.02.010. Epub 2013 Feb 27.
The immunological adjuvant effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was investigated both in vitro and in vivo. The in vivo adjuvant effect of AgNPs was evaluated with model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) in mice by intraperitoneal and subcutaneous immunization. Serum antigen-specific IgG level significantly increased in AgNPs-treated mice comparing to the control group. AgNPs induced the increase of IgG1/IgG2a ratio and antigen-specific IgE, indicating that AgNPs elicited Th2-biased immune responses. By in vitro assay, the mechanism of adjuvant effect was explored. After 48h treatment with AgNPs, both the number of leukocytes and levels of cytokines TNF-α and IFN-γ in abdominal lavage fluid of mice increased. The expression of the major histocompatibility complex class II molecule on the surface of peritoneal macrophages significantly increased. AgNPs can be easily phagocytosed by peritoneal macrophages, while do not affect antigen uptake by the cell. We therefore conclude that AgNPs have significant adjuvant effect and the mechanism of this effect is mainly ascribed to the recruitment and activation of local leukocytes and especially macrophages. For the first time we found the remarkable adjuvant effect of AgNPs, and the result is beneficial for the future applications, especially in biomedicine.
研究了银纳米粒子（AgNPs）的免疫佐剂效应，包括体内和体外实验。通过腹腔和皮下免疫实验，以卵清蛋白（OVA）和牛血清白蛋白（BSA）为模型抗原，在小鼠体内评估了 AgNPs 的佐剂效应。与对照组相比，AgNPs 处理组的血清抗原特异性 IgG 水平显著升高。AgNPs 诱导 IgG1/IgG2a 比值和抗原特异性 IgE 的增加，表明 AgNPs 引发了 Th2 偏向的免疫反应。通过体外实验，探讨了佐剂效应的机制。AgNPs 处理 48 小时后，小鼠腹腔灌洗液中的白细胞数量和 TNF-α、IFN-γ 等细胞因子水平均增加。腹腔巨噬细胞表面主要组织相容性复合体 II 类分子的表达显著增加。AgNPs 可被腹腔巨噬细胞轻易吞噬，而不影响细胞对抗原的摄取。因此，我们得出结论，AgNPs 具有显著的佐剂效应，其作用机制主要归因于局部白细胞，特别是巨噬细胞的募集和激活。我们首次发现 AgNPs 具有显著的佐剂效应，这一结果有利于其未来在生物医学等领域的应用。
