Influence of adjuvants on the antibody specificity to the Plasmodium falciparum major merozoite surface protein, gp195

The effect of adjuvants on the specificity of immune responses to the Plasmodium falciparum gp195 protein was investigated using adjuvant formulations based on synthetic muramyl dipeptide and monophosphoryl lipid A derivatives, in parallel with CFA and alum. Although these immunomodulators were as effective as CFA in inducing an antibody response to gp195, there were distinct differences in the recognition of B cell epitopes by these antibody populations. We have also demonstrated that MHC control of antibody specificity can be related to the adjuvant used for immunization. In general, the potency of adjuvants, their ability to induce antibodies of a particular specificity, or their ability to overcome MHC control of immune responsiveness varied independently. These findings suggest a critical role of adjuvants in the determination of the specificity of the immune response to protein Ag. Thus, the influence of adjuvants should be a major consideration in studies on immunologic recognition, as well as in the design of modern subunit vaccines.