Freund's complete and incomplete adjuvants, preparation, and quality control standards for experimental laboratory animals use

Immunological Effects of Dimethyldioctadecylammonium Bromide and Saponin as Adjuvants for Outer Membrane Vesicles from Neisseria meningitidis

The meningococcal disease is a global health threat, but is preventable through vaccination. Adjuvants improve meningococcal vaccines and are able to trigger different aspects of the immune response. The present work evaluated the immune response of mice against Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane vesicles (OMV) complexed with the adjuvants aluminium hydroxide (AH), via subcutaneous route; and dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA) or Saponin (Sap), via intranasal/subcutaneous routes. ELISA demonstrated that all adjuvants increased IgG titers after the booster dose, remaining elevated for 18 months. Additionally, adjuvants increased the avidity of the antibodies and the bactericidal titer: OMVs alone were bactericidal until 1:4 dilution but, when adjuvanted by Alum, DDA or Sap, it increased to 1/32. DDA and Sap increased all IgG isotypes, while AH improved IgG1 and IgG2a levels. Thus, Sap led to the recognition of more proteins in Immunoblot, followed by DDA and AH. Sap and AH induced higher IL-4 and IL-17 release, respectively. The use of adjuvants improved both cellular and humoral immune response, however, each adjuvant contributed to particular parameters. This demonstrates the importance of studying different adjuvant options and their suitability to stimulate different immune mechanisms, modulating the immune response.

Applicability and implementation of the collagen-induced arthritis mouse model, including protocols (Review)

Animal models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are essential for studying the pathogenesis of RA in vivo and determining the efficacy of anti-RA drugs. During the past decades, numerous rodent models of arthritis have been evaluated as potential models and the modeling methods are relatively well-developed. Among these models, the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model is the first choice and the most widely used because it may be generated rapidly and inexpensively and is relatively similar in pathogenesis to human RA. To date, there have been numerous classic studies and reviews discussing related pathogeneses and modeling methods. Based on this knowledge, combined with the latest convenient and effective methods for CIA model construction, the present review aims to introduce the model to beginners and clarify important details regarding its use. Information on the origin and pathogenesis of the CIA model, the protocol for establishing it, the rate of successful arthritis induction and the methods used to evaluate the severity of arthritis are briefly summarized. With this information, it is expected that researchers who have recently entered the field or are not familiar with this information will be able to start quickly, avoid unnecessary errors and obtain reliable results.

GM-CSF-loaded chitosan hydrogel as an immunoadjuvant enhances antigen-specific immune responses with reduced toxicity

Background

The application of vaccine adjuvants has been vigorously studied for a diverse range of diseases in order to improve immune responses and reduce toxicity. However, most adjuvants have limited uses in clinical practice due to their toxicity.

Methods

Therefore, to reduce health risks associated with the use of such adjuvants, we developed an advanced non-toxic adjuvant utilizing biodegradable chitosan hydrogel (CH-HG) containing ovalbumin (OVA) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as a local antigen delivery system.

Results

After subcutaneous injection into mice, OVA/GM-CSF-loaded CH-HG demonstrated improved safety and enhanced OVA-specific antibody production compared to oil-based adjuvants such as Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) or Incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA). Moreover, CH-HG system-mediated immune responses was characterized by increased number of OVA-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ INF-γ⁺ T cells, leading to enhanced humoral and cellular immunity.

Conclusions

In this study, the improved safety and enhanced immune response characteristics of our novel adjuvant system suggest the possibility of the extended use of adjuvants in clinical practice with reduced apprehension about toxic side effects.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12865-014-0048-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An update on safety and immunogenicity of vaccines containing emulsion-based adjuvants

With the exception of alum, emulsion-based vaccine adjuvants have been administered to far more people than any other adjuvant, especially since the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. The number of clinical safety and immunogenicity evaluations of vaccines containing emulsion adjuvants has correspondingly mushroomed. In this review, the authors introduce emulsion adjuvant composition and history before detailing the most recent findings from clinical and postmarketing data regarding the effects of emulsion adjuvants on vaccine immunogenicity and safety, with emphasis on the most widely distributed emulsion adjuvants, MF59® and AS03. The authors also present a summary of other emulsion adjuvants in clinical development and indicate promising avenues for future emulsion-based adjuvant development. Overall, emulsion adjuvants have demonstrated potent adjuvant activity across a number of disease indications along with acceptable safety profiles.