Nanoparticle immunoadjuvant complexes augment antigen-specific germinal center responses

However, there remains a critical need for next generation vaccine approaches to elicit improved GC responses resulting in increased antibody specificity, diversity, and durability. Here, we investigated whether a cytokine could be scaffolded on nanoparticles to enhance antigen-specific GC responses and drive maturation of B cell lineages.

We designed a chimeric nanoparticle using the GT8-60mer, a germline-targeting HIV immunogen, as a model to scaffold IL-21, a canonical GC cytokine. Delivered using plasmid DNA, nanoparticle immunoadjuvant complexes (NICs) scaffolding GT8 and IL-21 (GT8-IL-21-NIC) drove improved serum antibody titers, antigen-specific GC B cells, and functional Tfh cell responses relative to antigen-only nanoparticles and to co-delivery of IL-21 monomer.