TY - JOUR
T1 - Immunizations with hepatitis B viral antigens and a TLR7/8 agonist adjuvant induce antigen-specific immune responses in HBV-transgenic mice
AU - Wang, Ying
AU - Chen, Kun
AU - Wu, Zhiyuan
AU - Liu, Yuetao
AU - Liu, Shangmei
AU - Zou, Zhongmei
AU - Chen, Shu Hsia
AU - Qu, Chunfeng
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support: Supported by NFSC (81172888, 81161120495) and the PhD Program Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (20111106110016). The grant sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. The corresponding author had full access to all study data and final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Authors.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Background: The capacity of toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 agonist-conjugated hepatitis B virus (HBV) proteins (HBV-Ag) to overcome established hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-specific immune tolerance was explored. Methods: A TLR7/8 agonist, CL097, was conjugated with alum-absorbed HBsAg and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg), as confirmed by ultra performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF MS). Mice from two independently generated HBV-transgenic (HBV-Tg) colonies, C57BL/6J-TgN (AlblHBV) 44Bri/J mice and C57BL/6-HBV-1.3 genome-eq mice, were immunized with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag every 2 weeks, four times. Results: After immunization, 8/11 (72.7%) of the AlblHBV mice and 10/13 (76.9%) of the HBV-1.3 genome-eq mice generated serum detectable antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBs). HBsAg-specific interferon gamma (IFN-γ)-producing CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells were detected in splenocytes from these mice. Naïve normal mice receiving splenocytes from the mice immunized with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag generated immediate recall immune responses, e.g., the mice that received CD4+CD25+-depleted splenocytes generated anti-HBs on day 3 after HBsAg challenge while those receiving cells from sham-immunized mice did not. Conclusions: Immunization with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag reversed immune tolerance in HBV-Tg mice and induced antigen-specific immune responses. TLR7/8 agonists appear to be potent adjuvants for the induction of antigen-specific Th1 responses in an immune tolerant state.
AB - Background: The capacity of toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 agonist-conjugated hepatitis B virus (HBV) proteins (HBV-Ag) to overcome established hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-specific immune tolerance was explored. Methods: A TLR7/8 agonist, CL097, was conjugated with alum-absorbed HBsAg and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg), as confirmed by ultra performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF MS). Mice from two independently generated HBV-transgenic (HBV-Tg) colonies, C57BL/6J-TgN (AlblHBV) 44Bri/J mice and C57BL/6-HBV-1.3 genome-eq mice, were immunized with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag every 2 weeks, four times. Results: After immunization, 8/11 (72.7%) of the AlblHBV mice and 10/13 (76.9%) of the HBV-1.3 genome-eq mice generated serum detectable antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBs). HBsAg-specific interferon gamma (IFN-γ)-producing CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells were detected in splenocytes from these mice. Naïve normal mice receiving splenocytes from the mice immunized with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag generated immediate recall immune responses, e.g., the mice that received CD4+CD25+-depleted splenocytes generated anti-HBs on day 3 after HBsAg challenge while those receiving cells from sham-immunized mice did not. Conclusions: Immunization with CL097-conjugated HBV-Ag reversed immune tolerance in HBV-Tg mice and induced antigen-specific immune responses. TLR7/8 agonists appear to be potent adjuvants for the induction of antigen-specific Th1 responses in an immune tolerant state.
KW - Antigen-specific Th1 responses
KW - Chronic hepatitis B virus infection
KW - Immune tolerant state
KW - Toll-like receptor 7/8 agonists
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijid.2014.07.015
DO - 10.1016/j.ijid.2014.07.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 25449231
AN - SCOPUS:84910040995
SN - 1201-9712
VL - 29
SP - 31
EP - 36
JO - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - International Journal of Infectious Diseases
ER -