The adjuvant effect of C(OH) nanoparticles promoting both humoral and cellular immune responses to HCV recombinant proteins.

Hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection is one of major causes for chronic liver diseases worldwide and could lead to death. Development of effective HCV vaccines is a powerful auxiliary method of existing treatments. Adjuvants are necessary for modern vaccines to promote immune responses. Among the various nanomaterials that have been developed, multihydroxylated fullerene (C(OH)) has been proved as an efficient adjuvant for human immunodeficiency virus DNA vaccine. Here, we utilized three types of HCV recombinant proteins as antigens to investigate the activity of C(OH) as a protein vaccine adjuvant. The proteins were carried by C(OH) in a way of surface adsorption and self-assemble encapsulation. C(OH) at a relatively low dose was sufficient to promote both humoral and cellular immune responses to HCV protein antigens and reduce the usage of antigen. These results demonstrated the positive adjuvant properties of C(OH) when applied to protein vaccines.