title: Co-administration of non-carrier nanoparticles boosts antigen immune response without requiring protein conjugation.
abstract: Nanotechnology promises a revolution in medicine including through new vaccine approaches. The use of nanoparticles in vaccination has, to date, focused on attaching antigen directly to or within nanoparticle structures to enhance antigen uptake by immune cells. Here we question whether antigen incorporation with the nanoparticle is actually necessary to boost vaccine effectiveness. We show that the immunogenicity of a sub-unit protein antigen was significantly boosted by formulation with silica nanoparticles even without specific conjugation of antigen to the nanoparticle. We further show that this effect was observed only for virus-sized nanoparticles (50 nm) but not for larger (1,000 nm) particles, demonstrating a pronounced effect of nanoparticle size. This non-attachment approach has potential to radically simplify the development and application of nanoparticle-based formulations, leading to safer and simpler nanoparticle applications in vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Nani
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wibowo
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Yap P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Chuan
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Yoann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cordoba
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Protein Expression Facility, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Linda H L
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lua
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: a.middelberg@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Anton P J
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Middelberg
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000536:Aluminum Hydroxide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000536:Aluminum Hydroxide; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000941:Antigens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007252:Influenza Vaccines; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; C488937:M2 protein, Influenza A virus; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins
keywords: Adjuvant; Capsomere; Nanoparticle; Silica; Vaccine; Virus-like particle