Lysophosphatidylcholine is a natural adjuvant that initiates cellular immune responses

• Published in: Vaccine Vol. 24; no. 9; pp. 1254 - 1263
• Main Authors: Perrin-Cocon, Laure, Agaugué, Sophie, Coutant, Frédéric, Saint-Mézard, Pierre, Guironnet-Paquet, Aurélie, Nicolas, Jean-François, André, Patrice, Lotteau, Vincent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 27.02.2006; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acute-phase reactants; Adjuvant; Adjuvants, Immunologic; Adjuvants, Immunologic - administration & dosage; Adjuvants, Immunologic - pharmacology; Animals; Apoptosis; Applied microbiology; Atherosclerosis; Biological and medical sciences; Cell growth; Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Immune response; Immune system; Immunity, Cellular; Immunity, Cellular - drug effects; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Immunology; Immunomodulators; Life Sciences; Lipid Mediators; Lipids; Lipoproteins; Lymphocytes; Lysophosphatidylcholine; Lysophosphatidylcholines; Lysophosphatidylcholines - administration & dosage; Lysophosphatidylcholines - pharmacology; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microbiology; Models, Animal; Muramidase; Muramidase - immunology; Ovalbum; Ovalbumin - immunology; Recruitment; Vaccines; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies (general aspects); Adjuvant; Lipid Mediators; Acute-phase reactants; Immunomodulators; Lysophosphatidylcholine; Immunomodulator; Immunological adjuvant; Acute; Lipids; Cellular immunity
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518; 0264-410X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.09.036

The discovery of new adjuvants that can stimulate the immune response to protein antigens is a major issue for the development of subunit vaccines. Lipoprotein oxidation occurring during the acute phase response (APR) to aggression of the organism, provides signals of danger that are detected by dendritic cells (DC). Among other instructive molecules generated during the APR, lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) promotes mature DC generation from differentiating human monocytes in vitro. It is shown here that LPC also controls the initiation of an adaptive immune response in vivo. LPC displays adjuvant properties when injected to mice in mixture with various antigens. Immunizations with LPC induced the production of antigen-specific antibodies with an efficiency similar to Alum, the reference adjuvant for human vaccination. Importantly, LPC also induced cytotoxic T cell responses, opening perspectives for vaccine development. Therefore, LPC is a natural adjuvant for the immune system, inducing humoral and cellular immune responses.