Lipidation of intact proteins produces highly immunogenic vaccine candidates

Abstract

In this study we investigate the feasibility of generating self-adjuvanting vaccines capable of inducing high titre antibody responses following the covalent attachment of the TLR2 agonist Pam2Cys to intact proteins. Three Pam2Cys-based lipid moieties were prepared which contain a solubilising spacer composed of either lysine residues or polyethyleneglycol. A model protein, hen egg white lysozyme (HEL), was lipidated individually with each of these lipid modules and the immunogenicity of the lipidated species studied in mice by measuring antibody responses. We found that lipidated HEL elicited antibodies which is much stronger than the responses obtained when the HEL was administered in Freu..