Nanoparticle Vaccines Adopting Virus-like Features for Enhanced Immune Potentiation

Chattopadhyay, Saborni; Chen, Jui-Yi; Chen, Hui-Wen; Hu, Che-Ming Jack

Carbon-based nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, have also been studied as vaccine carriers [122, 123] . Owing to their high aspect ratio and large surface area, these carbon-based nanoparticles may carry a high proportion of antigens for immune activation. In a study on anticancer vaccination, Villa et al. conjugated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCTs) with Wilm's tumour protein, an antigen upregulated in many cancers. Antigen conjugated SWCTs showed good uptake by dendritic cells and macrophages in vitro, and subcutaneous immunization with these SWCTs promoted induction of antigen-specific IgG. In contrast, the free peptide formulation failed to induce an antibody response against the tumor antigen [124] . In another study, graphene nanosheets were used to deliver antigens to facilitate antigen cross-presentation to CD8+ T cells [123] . Xu et al. also demonstrated the use of a dual polymer-modified graphene formulation as an effective adjuvant to enhance the immunogenicity of H. pylori derived antigen (Alum-Ure B) [125] .