Issue 6, 2016

Functionalized graphene oxide serves as a novel vaccine nano-adjuvant for robust stimulation of cellular immunity

Abstract

Benefiting from their unique physicochemical properties, graphene derivatives have attracted great attention in biomedicine. In this study, we carefully engineered graphene oxide (GO) as a vaccine adjuvant for immunotherapy using urease B (Ure B) as the model antigen. Ure B is a specific antigen for Helicobacter pylori, which is a class I carcinogen for gastric cancer. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and various types of polyethylenimine (PEI) were used as coating polymers. Compared with single-polymer modified GOs (GO–PEG and GO–PEI), certain dual-polymer modified GOs (GO–PEG–PEI) can act as a positive modulator to promote the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and enhance their cytokine secretion through the activation of multiple toll-like receptor (TLR) pathways while showing low toxicity. Moreover, this GO–PEG–PEI can serve as an antigen carrier to effectively shuttle antigens into DCs. These two advantages enable GO–PEG–PEI to serve as a novel vaccine adjuvant. In the subsequent in vivo experiments, compared with free Ure B and clinically used aluminum-adjuvant-based vaccine (Alum-Ure B), GO–PEG–PEI–Ure B induces stronger cellular immunity via intradermal administration, suggesting promising applications in cancer immunotherapy. Our work not only presents a novel, highly effective GO-based vaccine nano-adjuvant, but also highlights the critical roles of surface chemistry for the rational design of nano-adjuvants.

Graphical abstract: Functionalized graphene oxide serves as a novel vaccine nano-adjuvant for robust stimulation of cellular immunity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Dec 2015
Accepted
04 Jan 2016
First published
13 Jan 2016

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 3785-3795

Functionalized graphene oxide serves as a novel vaccine nano-adjuvant for robust stimulation of cellular immunity

L. Xu, J. Xiang, Y. Liu, J. Xu, Y. Luo, L. Feng, Z. Liu and R. Peng, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 3785 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR09208F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements