Geometry of a TLR2-Agonist-Based Adjuvant Can Affect the Resulting Antigen-Specific Immune Response

Abstract

Targeted delivery of otherwise nonimmunogenic antigens to Toll-like receptors (TLRs) expressed on dendritic cells (DCs) has proven to be an effective means of improving immunogenicity. For this purpose, we have used a branched cationic lipopeptide, R4Pam2Cys, which is an agonist for TLR2 and enables electrostatic association with antigen for this purpose. Here, we compare the immunological properties of ovalbumin formulated with different geometrical configurations of R4Pam2Cys. Our results demonstrate that notwithstanding the presence of the same adjuvant, branched forms of R4Pam2Cys are more effective at inducing immune responses than are linear geometries. CD8+ T-cell-mediated responses a..