Effect of particulate adjuvant on the anthrax protective antigen dose required for effective nasal vaccination.

Successful vaccine development is dependent on the development of effective adjuvants since the poor immunogenicity of modern subunit vaccines typically requires the use of potent adjuvants and high antigen doses. In recent years, adjuvant formulations combining both immunopotentiators and delivery systems have emerged as a promising strategy to develop effective and improved vaccines. In this study we investigate if the association of the mast cell activating adjuvant compound 48/80 (C48/80) with chitosan nanoparticles would promote an antigen dose sparing effect when administered intranasally. Even though the induction of strong mucosal immunity required higher antigen doses, incorporation of C48/80 into nanoparticles provided significant dose sparing when compared to antigen and C48/80 in solution with no significant effect on serum neutralizing antibodies titers. These results suggest the potential of this novel adjuvant combination to improve the immunogenicity of a vaccine and decrease the antigen dose required for vaccination.