Attachment of flagellin enhances the immunostimulatory activity of a hemagglutinin-ferritin nano-cage

Publication date: Available online 26 January 2019Source: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and MedicineAuthor(s): Emerson B. Lee, Hyeong-Min Jeon, Chang-Ung Kim, Sang M. Park, Geunyoung Cho, Hyun-Jin Kim, Youngjin Kim, Doo-Jin Kim, Young S. Kim, Hayyoung Lee, Jie-Oh LeeAbstractHemagglutinin (HA) displayed on a ferritin nano-cage has been shown to be effective in generating a potent immune response against a broad range of influenza infections. Here, we showed that conjugation of flagellin together with HA to the exterior surface of the ferritin cage greatly enhanced not only the humoral immune response in mice but also antigen-specific T cell responses that include Th1 cytokine secretion. The effect of flagellin remained essentially unchanged when the molar ratio of flagellin to HA was reduced from 1:1 to 1:3. Injection of the ferritin-HA-flagellin cage provided protection against lethal virus challenge in mice. We used a small immunoglobulin fragment VL12.3 as a convenient method for attaching HA and flagellin to the ferritin cage. This attachment method can be used for rapid screening of a variety of protein cages and nano-assemblies to identify the most suitable carrier and adjuvant proteins for the target antigen.Graphical AbstractWe have shown that a small immunoglobulin fragment, VL12.3, as a convenient linker can be used for conjugating protein cages, antigens and adjuvants in this study. We showed that influenza hemagglutinin (HA) could be attached to ferritin an...
Source: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine - Category: Nanotechnology Source Type: research