Chitosan as an Immunomodulating Adjuvant on T-Cells and Antigen-Presenting Cells in Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infection.

Herpes disease caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is an intractable condition. It is a major concern in public health. Our purpose of this study was to verify the function of chitosan as an adjuvant for immune regulation specifically under herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection. Ahead of HSV infection, chitosan, heat inactivated green fluorescent protein expressing HSV (G-HSV), and a combination of chitosan and G-HSV were used to pretreat ICR mice followed by HSV-1 infection. Using flow cytometric analysis, the frequencies of T-cells, monocytes, dendritic cells (DCs), and natural killer (NK) cells were analyzed by surface expression of CD4, CD8, CD14, CD11c, NK1.1, and DX5 cells. In HSV infected mice, chitosan treatment significantly increased the frequencies of CD4 T-cells (33.6 ± 5.78%) compared to those in the control group (24.02 ± 12.47%, = 0.05). The frequencies of DC and NK cells were also significantly different between chitosan treated mice and control mice. In addition, anti-HSV IgG antibody was downregulated in chitosan treated mice. These results suggest that chitosan is a potential modulator or immune stimulator as an adjuvant in HSV-1 infected mice.