Bacterial derived proteoliposome as ideal delivery system and cellular adjuvant

We explored the potential of a proteoliposome (PL) from the outer membrane of N. meningitidis B, as an immunopotentiator and as a vector for antigen delivery to dendritic cells (DC). DC were incubated with PL resulting in up-regulation of MHC-II, CD40, CD80, and CD86 expression and production of TNFα and IL12(p70). Ovoalbumin (OVA) was incorporated within PL (PL-OVA). PL-OVA presented OVA-specific peptides to CD4 + and CD8 + OVA-specific T-cell hybridomas. PL exerts an immunomodulatory effect on DC and is a general system to deliver antigens for presentation to CD4 + and CD8 + T-cells possibly implicated in the induction CD8 + cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) responses.