Vaccine adjuvants stimulate the immune system. The Immunology Division research group, led by Professor Ger van Zandbergen and Dr Katrin Bagola, analysed the effects of different vaccine adjuvants on cultured immune cells.
Adjuvants are used in many vaccines as enhancers to boost the immune response to antigens. Antigens are pathogen components in the vaccine that are recognised by the immune system and are intended to provide specific protection against the infectious disease caused by the pathogen.
The research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, together with Dr Max Bastian, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Riems Island - Greifswald, compared the mechanisms of action of different classes of adjuvants. The comparison was conducted using a model system consisting of human immune cells (dendritic cells and lymphocytes) in cell culture and investigated the effects of ten adjuvants on the cytokines released by the cultured immune cells.
The adjuvants stimulated the immune cells to varying degrees and each had an individual profile of excreted cytokines and chemokines. Some adjuvants directly stimulated the dendritic cells, while others were better able to activate dendritic cells in the presence of the cocultured lymphocytes. A third group of adjuvants had no activating effect on dendritic cells.
The research group also found that even adjuvants that target the same immune receptor nonetheless stimulated the release of different messengers (cytokines and chemokines) by the lymphocytes.
Our research provides important insights that may be useful for assessing the effect of adjuvants on our immune system. This could also be relevant for the development of adjuvanted vaccines.
Prof Dr Ger van Zandbergen (Head of the Immunology Division )
Rossmann L, Bagola K, Stephen T, Gerards AL, Walber B, Ullrich A, Schülke S, Kamp C, Spreitzer I, Hasan M, David-Watine B, Shorte S, Bastian M, van Zandbergen G (2021): Distinct single-component adjuvants steer human DC-mediated T-cell polarization via Toll-like receptor signaling toward a potent antiviral immune response.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 118: e2103651118.