Epicutaneous CpG oligodeoxynucleotides with antigen promotes CTL.

2004 JUL 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Epicutaneous application of CpG oligodeoxynucleotides with peptide or protein antigen promotes the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL).

According to recent research published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, "Immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) are effective adjuvants in the induction of humoral and cellular immune responses when administered parenterally with antigen. The skin has recently become a target organ for the design of non-invasive vaccine technologies. Using ovalbumin (OVA) as a model antigen, we demonstrate that the application of ODN sequences to tape-stripped skin promotes the induction of potent cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses to co-administered peptide."

"Induction of peptide-specific CTL required the presence of CpG motifs within the ODN," said Sandra K. Klimuk and colleagues at Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation and the University of British Columbia in Canada. "CTL afforded tumor protection against a tumor expressing an immunodominant OVA CTL epitope. CTL could also be induced to whole protein administered onto the skin. Differential CpG sequence activity was noted with respect to the induction of CTL to epicutaneous protein with an ODN sequence containing a poly-G motif having an ...