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Fusion of Interleukin‐2 to Subunit Antigens Increase their Antigenicity In Vitro Due to an Interleukin‐2 Receptor β‐Mediated Antigen Uptake Mechanism
Author(s) -
Wales J.,
Baird M.,
Davies N.,
Buchan G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3083.2003.01312.x
Subject(s) - antigenicity , antigen , in vitro , epitope , protein subunit , biology , interleukin 10 receptor, alpha subunit , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , g alpha subunit , biochemistry , gene
Subunit vaccines, based on one or more epitopes, offer advantages over whole vaccines in terms of safety but are less antigenic. We investigated whether fusion of the cytokine interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) to influenza‐derived subunit antigens could increase their antigenicity. The fusion of IL‐2 to the subunit antigens increased their antigenicity in vitro . Encapsulation of the subunit antigen in liposomes also increased its antigenicity in vitro , yet encapsulation of the subunit IL‐2 fusion did not. The use of anti‐IL‐2 receptor β (IL‐2Rβ) antibody to block the receptor subunit on macrophages suggested that the adjuvancy exerted by IL‐2 in our in vitro system is due to, at least in part, a previously unreported IL‐2Rβ‐mediated antigen uptake mechanism.