Chitosan Nanoparticles Act as an Adjuvant to Promote both Th1 and Th2 Immune Responses Induced by Ovalbumin in Mice

Marine Drugs

Zheng-Shun Wen²  Ying-Lei Xu²  Xiao-Ting Zou¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory for Molecular Animal Nutrition of Ministry of Education, Feed Science Institute, College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University (Huajiachi Campus), Qiutao North Road 164, Hangzhou 310029, China;

关键词: chitosan nanoparticles;    adjuvant;    immune response;    ovalbumin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md9061038

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The study was conducted to investigate the promoted immune response to ovalbumin in mice by chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) and its toxicity. CNP did not cause any mortality or side effects when mice were administered subcutaneously twice with a dose of 1.5 mg at 7-day intervals. Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were immunized subcutaneously with 25 μg ovalbumin (OVA) alone or with 25 μg OVA dissolved in saline containing Quil A (10 μg), chitosan (CS) (50 μg) or CNP (12.5, 50 or 200 μg) on days 1 and 15. Two weeks after the secondary immunization, serum OVA-specific antibody titers, splenocyte proliferation, natural killer (NK) cell activity, and production and mRNA expression of cytokines from splenocytes were measured. The serum OVA-specific IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG2b antibody titers and Con A-, LPS-, and OVA-induced splenocyte proliferation were significantly enhanced by CNP (P < 0.05) as compared with OVA and CS groups. CNP also significantly promoted the production of Th1 (IL-2 and IFN-γ) and Th2 (IL-10) cytokines and up-regulated the mRNA expression of IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-10 cytokines in splenocytes from the immunized mice compared with OVA and CS groups. Besides, CNP remarkably increased the killing activities of NK cells activity (P < 0.05). The results suggested that CNP had a strong potential to increase both cellular and humoral immune responses and elicited a balanced Th1/Th2 response, and that CNP may be a safe and efficacious adjuvant candidate suitable for a wide spectrum of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.