Assessment of Potential Use of Bacterial Cellulose as a Vaccine Adjuvant
Project no. 20783 · Status: Kapanmış · 2019
Summary
Although vaccines have made significant advances today, new candidate molecules are needed as adjuvants. Aluminum adjuvants have many side effects, but there is no good alternative to these materials. The aim of this thesis is to develop a biocompatible vaccine adjuvant from bacterial cellulose (BS) synthesized by microbial method, alternative to current adjuvants. In this context, the conversion of BS synthesized by microbial method from Gluconacetobacter xylinus into particle form by physical and chemical methods was optimized, and the characterization of the obtained fibrous microparticles was made with Zetasizer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Subsequently, cytokine secretion [(tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a) and interleukin 6 (IL-6)] and cellular uptake studies of microparticles conjugated with bovine serum albumin on macrophage-differentiated U937 cells were performed. In the study, bovine serum albümin (BSA) was used as the model antigen and aluminum salt was used as the control. Secreted TNF-a and IL-6 were measured with ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) kits, and cellular uptake was examined with a confocal microscope. The acid hydrolysis method was successful in obtaining BS particles, and 1-5 µm microparticles with fibril structure were obtained. The highest TNF-a cytokine level (113 ng/ml) was obtained with 500µg/ml BSA-BS conjugate given to macrophage-differentiated U937 cells and it was statistically significant compared to the cytokine level of the control group (49.833 ng/ml), and cellular uptake of BS microparticles was shown. There was no statistically significant difference between the alum groups at IL-6 cytokine levels. As a result, it was determined that BS microparticles increase TNF-a cytokine level with restricted IL-6 production as desired and have the potential to be used as a vaccine adjuvant.