antigen tagged posts

Vaccines have curtailed the spread of several infectious diseases, such as smallpox, polio and measles. However, vaccines against some diseases, including HIV-1, influenza and malaria, don’t work very well, and one reason could be the timing of antigen and adjuvant presentation to the immune system. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science developed an injectable hydrogel that allows sustained release of vaccine components, increasing the potency, quality and duration of immune responses in mice.

To confer resistance to infectious diseases, vaccines display parts of a pathogen – known as antigens – to cells of the immune system, which develop antibodies against these molecules...

Schematic and characterization of tri-agonist compound, Indole_Lox_CpG. (a) Chemical structure of covalently conjugated tri-agonist compound (Indole_Lox_CpG) (left). Diagram illustrating how each TLR agonist (pyrimido-indole, loxoribine, or CpG-ODN) and the corresponding combinations (Indole_Lox, Lox_CpG, or Indole_CpG) contributed to innate immune activation (right). (b) Confirmation of synthesized Indole_Lox_CpG via MALDI-TOF. (c) Analysis of Indole_Lox_CpG via gel electrophoresis: CpG-ODN1826 reference (lane 1) and Indole_Lox_CpG reaction mixture (lane 2). Tri-agonist was extracted from the gel and isolated as purified Indole_Lox_CpG.

Some vaccines, like the flu shot, contain a dead or weakened version of the disease-causing pathogen...