a Division of Infectious Disease, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health , Albany , NY.
b Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics , The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio , San Antonio , TX.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2018;14(8):2053-2057. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2018.1461299. Epub 2018 May 14.
Alpha-galactosylceramide (αGalCer) is a glycolipid derived from a marine sponge that is a potent activator of both mouse and human invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. For that reason, αGalCer is a promising vaccine adjuvant that has been shown to improve both humoral and cellular immunity when co-administered with various vaccines, including candidate vaccines for biodefense. In the current study, we tested the effectiveness of αGalCer as an adjuvant for the clinically-relevant ricin toxin subunit vaccine, RiVax. αGalCer had a potent adjuvant effect, as shown by a rapid onset of anti-ricin IgG titers, accelerated development of serum toxin-neutralizing activity, and enhanced protection from lethal ricin challenge in a mouse model. These results underscore the potential of αGalCer to augment the protective immune response to a vaccine designed to counteract ricin toxin, a fast-acting biothreat agent.
α-半乳糖神经酰胺（αGalCer）是一种来源于海洋海绵的糖脂，能够激活人和鼠的天然不变自然杀伤 T（iNKT）细胞。因此，αGalCer 是一种很有前途的疫苗佐剂，与各种疫苗联合使用时，可改善体液和细胞免疫，包括用于生物防御的候选疫苗。在本研究中，我们测试了αGalCer 作为临床相关蓖麻毒素亚单位疫苗 RiVax 的佐剂的效果。αGalCer 具有很强的佐剂作用，表现在抗蓖麻毒素 IgG 滴度迅速升高，血清毒素中和活性迅速发展，以及在小鼠模型中增强对致死性蓖麻毒素的保护作用。这些结果突出了 αGalCer 增强针对设计用于中和蓖麻毒素的疫苗的保护性免疫反应的潜力，蓖麻毒素是一种快速作用的生物威胁剂。
