Cubosome nanoparticles potentiate immune properties of immunostimulants

Abstract

Cubosomes have been explored as drug and antigen carriers in the past few years. A few reports have described that cubosomes can enhance the ability of immunostimulants to generate strong immune responses. Polysaccharide (PS), an immunostimulant, has been reported to be a promising adjuvant for vaccines. Herein, we incorporated PS into cubosomes to generate PS–cubosome (Cub-PS) nanoparticles, and Cub-PS was characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering scattering and cryo-field emission scanning electron microscopy. The immunological activity of Cub-PS was compared with that of Cub and PS. The results demonstrated that Cub-PS elicited more potent immune responses than Cub or PS alone. The enhanced immune responses might be attributed to the promotion of antigen transport into draining lymph nodes and efficient dendritic cell activation and memory T-helper cell differentiation in draining lymph nodes. Overall, these findings indicate that cubosomes have the potential to enhance the ability of immunostimulants to generate an immune response.

Keywords:

• cubosomes
• polysaccharides
• cryo-FESEM
• lymph nodes
• dendritic cells
• memory T-helper cells

Acknowledgments

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31372472), the Special Fund for Agro-Scientific Research in the Public Interest (grant numbers 201303046 and 201403051), and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. We are grateful to Professor Yuanliang Hu, Professor Jiaguo Liu, PhD, Yi Wu, and all other staff in the Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of Nanjing Agricultural University for their assistance in the experiments.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.