Intranasal delivery of a lipopeptide-PADRE epitope provokes potent immune response.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Intranasal delivery of a synthetic lipopeptide linked to a T-helper epitope induced a strong cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response in mice, according to a report in the journal Immunology.

Studies have demonstrated that a lipopeptide linked to a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201-restricted CTL epitope from human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) protein pp65 causes an effective systemic CTL response in HLA-A*0201 mice when delivered by parenteral injection. L. Benmohamed and colleagues at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in California investigated intranasal administration as representative of general mucosal delivery.

The researchers covalently bonded the lipopeptide to a universal T helper (Th) epitope (PADRE). Intranasal delivery in mice produced a strong systemic CTL response. The immune response was significantly attenuated when PADRE was used without the lipopeptide portion (p

The lipopeptide-PADRE-induced immune response involved CTLs that were CD8[superscript]+, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-restricted, and CMV specific. An antigen-specific delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) immune response also occurred and local mucosal and ...