Hydrogel-Delivered GM-CSF Overcomes Nonresponsiveness to Hepatitis B Vaccine through the Recruitment and Activation of Dendritic Cells

The Journal of Immunology: Official Journal of the American Association of Immunologists

Ping-Yi Wu¹  Xi-Zhang Lin¹  Mi-Hua Tao¹  Tsai-Yu Lin²  Chia-Ming Chang³  Ho-Yuan Chou⁴  Wen-Yu Pan⁵  Hsin-Hsin Shen⁵ 

[1] and;Department of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan;Graduate Institute of Microbiology, National Taiwan University;Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica;Medical Electronics and Device Technology Center, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan;Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Yang-Ming University, Taipei

DOI  :  10.4049/jimmunol.1001875

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: American Association of Immunologists

【 摘 要 】

The standard hepatitis B surface Ag (HBsAg) vaccine fails to induce anti-hepatitis B surface Abs in 5–10% of healthy subjects, a phenomenon known as HBsAg nonresponsiveness, which is closely related to HLA class II alleles and impaired Th cell responses to HBsAg in these subjects. We hypothesized that GM-CSF, a potent adjuvant in enhancing the Ag-presentation activity of APCs, might help to generate Th cell responses in nonresponders, subsequently providing help for B cells to produce anti-hepatitis B surface Abs. We used a thermosensitive biodegradable copolymer (hydrogel) system to codeliver HBsAg and GM-CSF to achieve maximal local cytokine activity at the injection site. In responder mouse strains, hydrogel-formulated HBsAg plus GM-CSF (Gel/HBs+GM) vaccine elicited much greater anti-hepatitis B surface Ab titers and Th cell proliferative responses than a commercial aluminum-formulated HBsAg vaccine or free HBsAg. The adjuvant effect of the Gel/HBs+GM vaccine was dependent upon the local release of GM-CSF. More importantly, the Gel/HBs+GM vaccine elicited high HBsAg-specific Ab titers and Th cell responses in B10.M mice, a mouse strain that does not respond to the current HBsAg vaccine because of its H-2 haplotype. Analysis of the draining lymph nodes of Gel/HBs+GM vaccine-treated mice revealed an elevated number of CD11c+ dendritic cells showing enhanced expression of MHC class II and a variety of costimulatory molecules. These results demonstrate that hydrogel-formulated GM-CSF might represent a simple and effective method to generate next-generation hepatitis B virus vaccines for inducing anti-hepatitis B surface Abs in nonresponders.

【 授权许可】

CC BY