title: Chitosan-Poly (I:C)-PADRE Based Nanoparticles as Delivery Vehicles for Synthetic Peptide Vaccines.
abstract: The safety and precision of peptide antigens has prompted the search for adjuvants capable of increasing the immune response against these intrinsically poorly immunogenic antigens. The integration of both immunostimulants and peptide antigens within nanometric delivery systems for their co-delivery to immune cells is a promising vaccination strategy. With this in mind, the potential synergistic effect of the immunostimulant poly (I:C) (pIC) and a T-Helper peptide (PADRE), integrated into a chitosan (CS) based nanostructure, was explored. The value of this nanostructured combination of materials was assessed for a peptide antigen (1338aa) derived from the HPV-16 L2 protein. These nanoparticles, produced by ionic gelation technique, exhibited a nanometric size (<300 nm), a high positive surface charge (>40 mV) and high pIC association efficiency (>96%). They also showed capacity for the association of both the 1338aa and PADRE peptides. The influence of the presence of pIC and PADRE in the nanocomposition, as well as that of the peptide presentation form (encapsulated versus surface adsorbed) on the antibody induction was evaluated in a preliminary in vivo study. The data obtained highlights the possibility to engineer nanoparticles through the rational combination of a number of adjuvant molecules together with the antigen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mariaj.alonso@usc.es.|Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), Av. Barcelona s/n, Campus Vida, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15707 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mariaj.alonso@usc.es.
authors.forename: Jorge F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Correia-Pinto
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. noemi.csaba@usc.es.|Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), Av. Barcelona s/n, Campus Vida, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15707 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. noemi.csaba@usc.es.
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Csaba
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. schillej@dc37a.nci.nih.gov.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Schiller
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mariaj.alonso@usc.es.|Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), Av. Barcelona s/n, Campus Vida, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15707 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mariaj.alonso@usc.es.
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Alonso
keywords: HPV; T-Helper peptide; adjuvant; chitosan; nanoparticle; peptide-based antigens; poly (I:C)