Immunogenicity and safety of liposome-vaccine encapsulating hepatitis B surface antigen and phosphodiester CpG oligodeoxynucleotides

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN) as adjuvant have been extensively studied in recent years. Phosphodiester CpG ODN (PO CpG ODN) can perfectly mimic bacterial DNA in enhancing immune response but are vulnerable to nucleases in vivo . This study aimed to evaluate the immunostimulatory potential and safety of phosphodiester CpG ODN encapsulated in nonphospholipid liposomes. BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly with different formulations of liposomes,CpG ODN and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The results demonstrated that the encapsulated PO CpG ODN were protected against rapid degradation in vivo and retained their adjuvant activity. PO CpG ODN encapsulated with HBsAg in liposomes induced strong Th1-biased or Th1/Th2 mixed humoral immune response in mice with the magnitude similar to their phosphothioate equivalent in the same formulation. High IFN-gamma production induced by this formulation confirmed the generation of strong cellular immune response. Additionally, co-delivery of HBsAg and PO CpG ODN improved the immune response over that obtained with separate delivery. Safety experiment showed that liposome-encapsulaed PO CpG ODN and HBsAg caused mild systemic and moderate local adverse reaction. In conclusion, our data shows that PO CpG ODN encapsulated in liposomes fully exhibit their Th1-type adjuvant activity and act as a potential adjuvant for vaccines.