Kim Yu-Gyeong, Lee Yunsu, Kim Joo Hee, Chang Sun-Young, Jung Jong-Wha, Chung Woo-Jae, Jin Hyo-Eon
College of Pharmacy, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, Korea.
Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Nov 25;10(12):2342. doi: 10.3390/nano10122342.
Subunit vaccines consist of non-genetic material, such as peptides or proteins. They are considered safe because they have fewer side effects; however, they have low immunogenicity when used alone. We aimed to enhance the immune response of peptide-based vaccines by using self-assembled multimeric peptide amphiphiles (PAs). We designed two epitope PAs by conjugating epitope peptides from Enterovirus 71 (EV71) virus particle (VP) 1 and VP3 capsid proteins with different fatty acid chain lengths (VP1PA and VP3PA). These PAs self-assembled into supramolecular structures at a physiological pH, and the resulting structures were characterized using atomic force microscopy. Multi-epitope PAs (m-PAs) consisted of a 1:1 mixture of VP1PA and VP3PA solutions. To evaluate immunogenicity, m-PA constructs were injected with adjuvant subcutaneously into female Balb/c mice. Levels of antigen-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG1 in m-PA-injected mice serum samples were analyzed using ELISA and Western blotting. Additionally, cytokine production stimulated by each antigen was measured in splenocytes cultured from immunized mice groups. We found that m-PA showed improved humoral and cellular immune responses compared to the control and peptide groups. The sera from m-PA immunized mice group could neutralize EV71 infection and protect host cells. Thus, self-assembled m-PAs can promote a protective immune response and can be developed as a potential platform technology to produce peptide vaccines against infectious viral diseases.
亚单位疫苗由非遗传物质组成,如肽或蛋白质。它们被认为是安全的,因为副作用较少;然而,单独使用时免疫原性较低。我们旨在通过使用自组装多聚体肽两亲物(PAs)来增强基于肽的疫苗的免疫反应。我们通过将来自肠道病毒71型(EV71)病毒颗粒(VP)1和VP3衣壳蛋白的表位肽与不同脂肪酸链长度偶联,设计了两种表位PAs(VP1PA和VP3PA)。这些PAs在生理pH值下自组装成超分子结构,并使用原子力显微镜对所得结构进行表征。多表位PAs(m-PAs)由VP1PA和VP3PA溶液的1:1混合物组成。为了评估免疫原性,将m-PA构建体与佐剂皮下注射到雌性Balb/c小鼠体内。使用ELISA和蛋白质印迹法分析m-PA注射小鼠血清样本中抗原特异性免疫球蛋白G(IgG)和IgG1的水平。此外,在从免疫小鼠组培养的脾细胞中测量每种抗原刺激的细胞因子产生。我们发现,与对照组和肽组相比,m-PA表现出改善的体液和细胞免疫反应。m-PA免疫小鼠组的血清可以中和EV71感染并保护宿主细胞。因此,自组装的m-PAs可以促进保护性免疫反应,并可作为一种潜在的平台技术来开发针对传染性病毒疾病的肽疫苗。