title: Molecular adjuvant interleukin-33 enhances the antifertility effect of Lagurus lagurus zona pellucida 3 DNA vaccine administered by the mucosal route.
abstract: It has been shown that cytokines can act as molecular adjuvant to enhance the immune response induced by DNA vaccines, but it is unknown whether interleukin 33 (IL-33) can enhance the immunocontraceptive effect induced by DNA vaccines. In the present study, we explored the effects of murine IL-33 on infertility induced by Lagurus lagurus zona pellucida 3 (Lzp3) contraceptive DNA vaccine administered by the mucosal route. Plasmid pcD-Lzp3 and plasmid pcD-mIL-33 were encapsulated with chitosan to generate the nanoparticle chi-(pcD-Lzp3+pcD-mIL-33) as the DNA vaccine. Sixty female ICR mice, divided into 5 groups (n=12/group), were intranasally immunized on days 0, 14, 28, and 42. After intranasal immunization, the anti-LZP3-specific IgG in serum and IgA in vaginal secretions and feces were determined by ELISA. The results showed that chi-(pcD-Lzp3+pcD-mIL-33) co-immunization induced the highest levels of serum IgG, secreted mucosal IgA, and T cell proliferation. Importantly, mice co-immunized with chi-(pcD-Lzp3+pcD-mIL-33) had the lowest birth rate and mean litter size, which correlated with high levels of antibodies. Ovaries from infertile female mice co-immunized with chi-(pcD-Lzp3+pcD-mIL-33) showed abnormal development of ovarian follicles, indicated by atretic follicles and loss of oocytes. Our results demonstrated that intranasal delivery of the molecular adjuvant mIL-33 with chi-pcD-Lzp3 significantly increased infertility by enhancing both systemic and mucosal immune responses. Therefore, chi-(pcD-Lzp3+pcD-mIL-33) co-immunization could be a strategy for controlling the population of wild animal pests.
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang University, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Y X
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang University, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: X P
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang University, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kadir
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang University, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Zhang