One of the major drawbacks to the development of novel vaccines has been the lack of safe yet effective adjuvants. Biphasic lipid vesicles are formulations suitable for the delivery of proteins, peptides and oligo/polynucleotides. They constitute a new class of delivery system into which antigens and adjuvants can be incorporated. The purpose of these studies was to investigate the ability of biphasic lipid vesicles (Vaccine-Targeting Adjuvants - VTA) to induce immune responses to bacterial antigens and to enhance the adjuvant activity of CpG ODNs. Immunization of mice with bacterial antigen and CpG ODNs in saline was not as effective at inducing immune responses as formulation in VTA vesicles. Results showed that formulation of CpG ODN in VTA significantly enhanced its adjuvanticity.

Biphasic vesicles, vaccine delivery, CpG oligonucleotides, cellular immunity, recombinant bacterial antigens

College of Pharmacy andNutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. S7N 5C9, Canada.