Complex Particulate Biomaterials as Immunostimulant-Delivery Platforms

• Published in: PloS one 2016-10, Vol.11 (10), p.e0164073
• Main Authors: Torrealba, Débora, Seras-Franzoso, Joaquin, Mamat, Uwe, Wilke, Kathleen, Villaverde, Antonio, Roher, Nerea, Garcia-Fruitós, Elena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjuvants; Adjuvants, Immunologic - administration & dosage; Adjuvants, Immunologic - chemistry; Animals; Aquaculture; Aquaculture - methods; Asthma; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Infections - immunology; Biochemistry; Biocompatibility; Biocompatible Materials - administration & dosage; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Cell Line; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Drug Delivery Systems - methods; E coli; Emulsions; Escherichia coli; Fish; Fish Diseases - immunology; Fishes; Gene expression; Health aspects; Immune system; Immunomodulation; Immunomodulators; Immunostimulants; Inclusion bodies; Inclusion Bodies - immunology; Infectious diseases; Lipopolysaccharides; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mitogens; Oncorhynchus mykiss; Peptidoglycans; Physical Sciences; Proteins; Research and Analysis Methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Side effects; Vaccination; Vaccination - methods; Vaccines; Veterinary medicine; Viral Vaccines - immunology; Zebrafish
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164073

The control of infectious diseases is a major current challenge in intensive aquaculture. Most commercial vaccines are based on live attenuated or inactivated pathogens that are usually combined with adjuvants, oil emulsions being as the most widely used for vaccination in aquaculture. Although effective, the use of these oil emulsions is plagued with important side effects. Thus, the development of alternative safer and cost-effective immunostimulants and adjuvants is highly desirable. Here we have explored the capacity of inclusion bodies produced in bacteria to immunostimulate and protect fish against bacterial infections. Bacterial inclusion bodies are highly stable, non-toxic protein-based biomaterials produced through fully scalable and low-cost bio-production processes. The present study shows that the composition and structured organization of inclusion body components (protein, lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, DNA and RNA) make these protein biomaterials excellent immunomodulators able to generically protect fish against otherwise lethal bacterial challenges. The results obtained in this work provide evidence that their inherent nature makes bacterial inclusion bodies exceptionally attractive as immunostimulants and this opens the door to the future exploration of this biomaterial as an alternative adjuvant for vaccination purposes in veterinary.