Study of the stability of proteoliposomes as vehicles for vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis based on recombinant porin complexes

The potential utility of liposomes for Neisseria vaccines

INTRODUCTION

Species of the genus Neisseria are important global pathogens. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonococcus) causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea and Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) causes meningitis and sepsis. Liposomes are self-assembled spheres of phospholipid bilayers enclosing a central aqueous space, and they have attracted much interest and use as a delivery vehicle for Neisseria vaccine antigens.

AREAS COVERED

A brief background on Neisseria infections and the success of licensed meningococcal vaccines are provided. The absence of a gonococcal vaccine is highlighted. The use of liposomes for delivering Neisseria antigens and adjuvants, for the purposes of generating specific immune responses, is reviewed. The use of other lipid-based systems for antigen and adjuvant delivery is examined briefly.

EXPERT OPINION

With renewed interest in developing a gonococcal vaccine, liposomes remain an attractive option for delivering antigens. The discipline of nanotechnology provides additional nanoparticle-based options for gonococcal vaccine development. Future work would be needed to tailor the composition of liposomes and other nanoparticles to the specific vaccine antigen(s), in order to generate optimal anti-gonococcal immune responses. The potential use of liposomes and other nanoparticles to deliver anti-gonococcal compounds to treat infections also should be explored further.

Meningococcal Vaccines: Current Status and Emerging Strategies

Neisseria meningitidis causes most cases of bacterial meningitis. Meningococcal meningitis is a public health burden to both developed and developing countries throughout the world. There are a number of vaccines (polysaccharide-based, glycoconjugate, protein-based and combined conjugate vaccines) that are approved to target five of the six disease-causing serogroups of the pathogen. Immunization strategies have been effective at helping to decrease the global incidence of meningococcal meningitis. Researchers continue to enhance these efforts through discovery of new antigen targets that may lead to a broadly protective vaccine and development of new methods of homogenous vaccine production. This review describes current meningococcal vaccines and discusses some recent research discoveries that may transform vaccine development against N. meningitidis in the future.

Cyclodextrin modified niosomes to encapsulate hydrophilic compounds

Niosomes were prepared from equimolar mixtures of two non-ionic surfactants, Span 80 and Tween 80. The capability of the vesicular systems was studied through the encapsulation of two azo dyes as molecular probes of different hydrophobicity (methyl orange (MO) and methyl yellow (MY)). To improve the efficiency of the niosomes to encapsulate the dyes, we employed an additional modification of the vesicular system, adding β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) or a modified amphiphilic β-CD (Mod-β-CD) to the niosomes. Neither the inclusion of dyes nor the incorporation of β-CD to the niosomes produces considerable modifications in size and morphology of the vesicles. However, in the presence of Mod-β-CD the niosomes became smaller, probably due to the anchoring of the cyclodextrin at the surface of vesicles through the hydrophobic chain, altering the curvature of the outer monolayer and reducing the surface charge of the interphase. The entrapment efficiency (EE) for MY was higher than that for MO in niosomes without cyclodextrin, however, the content of MO in the presence of β-CD increased considerably. Besides, the release of this dye under the same conditions was faster and reached 70% in 24 hours whereas in the absence of the macrocycle, the release was 15%, in the same time. UV-visible spectrophotometry and induced circular dichroism analysis allowed it to be established that MO is complexed with cyclodextrins inside vesicles, whereas MY interacts mainly with the niosome bilayer instead of with CD. Besides, the cavity of cyclodextrins is probably located in the interphase and preferably in the polar region of niosomes.

Incorporation of β-cyclodextrin into niosomes considerably increased the encapsulated amount and the delivery rate of a hydrophilic molecular probe.

Liposomes or traditional adjuvants: induction of bactericidal activity by the macrophage infectivity potentiator protein (Mip) of Neisseria meningitidis

Currently, one of the main approaches to achieve a vaccine for serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis is based on outer membrane proteins with low antigenic variability among strains. Since these proteins tend to be minor components of the outer membrane, recombinant production is required to obtain them in sufficient amounts for evaluation and development of vaccines. In this study, we analysed the ability of recombinant macrophage infectivity potentiator (rMip) protein to induce protective bactericidal activity in mice. The rMip protein was cloned from N. meningitidis strain H44/76 and was used to immunise mice, and the sera obtained were tested against the homologous and several heterologous N. meningitidis strains. The sera were obtained using the rMip alone, with adjuvant Al(OH)₃ , or after inclusion into liposomes. Bactericidal activity was variable depending on the strain, although high titres were seen against strains H44/76 and NmP27. Liposomes enhanced fourfold the reactivity against the homologous strain. The results presented suggest that the rMip protein should be considered a promising candidate for the improvement of future protein-based vaccines.

Bacterial protease-triggered clove oil release from proteoliposomes against S. aureus biofilms on dried soybean curd

The purpose of this study is to develop a new approach to deliver antimicrobials against bacterial infections by taking advantage of the hydrolysis of protease by casein.

Extracellular Vesicles: Role in Inflammatory Responses and Potential Uses in Vaccination in Cancer and Infectious Diseases

Almost all cells and organisms release membrane structures containing proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which have a wide range of functions concerning intercellular communication and signaling events. Recently, the characterization and understanding of their biological role have become a main research area due to their potential role in vaccination, as biomarkers antigens, early diagnostic tools, and therapeutic applications. Here, we will overview the recent advances and studies of Evs shed by tumor cells, bacteria, parasites, and fungi, focusing on their inflammatory role and their potential use in vaccination and diagnostic of cancer and infectious diseases.

Hybrid nanosystems based on natural polymers as protein carriers for respiratory delivery: Stability and toxicological evaluation

Chitosan/carrageenan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles were previously presented as holding potential for an application in transmucosal delivery of macromolecules, with tripolyphosphate demonstrating to contribute for both size reduction and stabilisation of the nanoparticles. This work was aimed at evaluating the capacity of the nanoparticles as protein carriers for pulmonary and nasal transmucosal delivery, further assessing their biocompatibility pattern regarding that application. Nanoparticles demonstrated stability in presence of lysozyme, while freeze-drying was shown to preserve their characteristics when glucose or sucrose were used as cryoprotectants. Bovine serum albumin was associated to the nanoparticles, which were successfully microencapsulated by spray-drying to meet the aerodynamic requirements inherent to pulmonary delivery. Finally, a satisfactory biocompatibility profile was demonstrated upon exposure of two respiratory cell lines (Calu-3 and A549 cells) to the carriers. A negligible effect on cell viability along with no alterations on transepithelial electrical resistance and no induction of inflammatory response were observed.

Pullulan-based nanoparticles as carriers for transmucosal protein delivery

Polymeric nanoparticles have revealed very effective in transmucosal delivery of proteins. Polysaccharides are among the most used materials for the production of these carriers, owing to their structural flexibility and propensity to evidence biocompatibility and biodegradability. In parallel, there is a preference for the use of mild methods for their production, in order to prevent protein degradation, ensure lower costs and easier procedures that enable scaling up. In this work we propose the production of pullulan-based nanoparticles by a mild method of polyelectrolyte complexation. As pullulan is a neutral polysaccharide, sulfated and aminated derivatives of the polymer were synthesized to provide pullulan with a charge. These derivatives were then complexed with chitosan and carrageenan, respectively, to produce the nanocarriers. Positively charged nanoparticles of 180-270 nm were obtained, evidencing ability to associate bovine serum albumin, which was selected as model protein. In PBS pH 7.4, pullulan-based nanoparticles were found to have a burst release of 30% of the protein, which maintained up to 24h. Nanoparticle size and zeta potential were preserved upon freeze-drying in the presence of appropriate cryoprotectants. A factorial design was approached to assess the cytotoxicity of raw materials and nanoparticles by the metabolic test MTT. Nanoparticles demonstrated to not cause overt toxicity in a respiratory cell model (Calu-3). Pullulan has, thus, demonstrated to hold potential for the production of nanoparticles with an application in protein delivery.