Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling between Alkyl (Pseudo)halides and Bicyclopentyl Grignard Reagents.

The development of a copper-catalyzed cross-coupling between primary and secondary (pseudo)halides and bicyclopentyl Grignard reagents is reported. Highly strained bicyclopentanes can be cross-coupled with a large panel of primary alkyl mesylates and secondary alkyl iodides. The catalytic system is simple and cheap, and the reaction is general and chemoselective.

Introduction of Cyclopropyl and Cyclobutyl Ring on Alkyl Iodides through Cobalt-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling.

A cobalt-catalyzed cross-coupling between alkyl iodides and cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, and alkenyl Grignard reagents is disclosed. The reaction allows the introduction of strained rings on a large panel of primary and secondary alkyl iodides. The catalytic system is simple and nonexpensive, and the reaction is general, chemoselective, and diastereoconvergent. The alkene resulting from the cross-coupling can be transformed to substituted cyclopropanes using a Simmons-Smith reaction. The formation of radical intermediates during the coupling is hypothesized.

Novel generation mycobacterial adjuvant based on liposome-encapsulated monomycoloyl glycerol from Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin.

The immunostimulatory activity of lipids associated with the mycobacterial cell wall has been recognized for several decades and exploited in a large variety of different adjuvant preparations. Previously, we have shown that a mycobacterial lipid extract from Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin delivered in cationic liposomes was a particular efficient Th1-inducing adjuvant formulation effective against tuberculosis. Herein, we have dissected the adjuvant activity of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin lipid extract showing that the majority of the activity was attributable to the apolar lipids and more specifically to a single lipid, monomycoloyl glycerol (MMG), previously also shown to stimulate human dendritic cells. Delivered in cationic liposomes, MMG induced the most prominent Th1-biased immune response that provided significant protection against tuberculosis. Importantly, a simple synthetic analog of MMG, based on a 32 carbon mycolic acid, was found to give rise to comparable high Th1-biased responses with a major representation of polyfunctional CD4 T cells coexpressing IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-2. Furthermore, comparable activity was shown by an even simpler monoacyl glycerol analog, based on octadecanoic acid. The use of these synthetic analogs of MMG represents a promising new strategy for exploiting the immunostimulatory activity and adjuvant potential of components from the mycobacterial cell wall without the associated toxicity issues observed with complex mycobacterial preparations.

A simple mycobacterial monomycolated glycerol lipid has potent immunostimulatory activity.

It is a long held belief that the strong immunostimulatory activity of the Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and Freund's complete adjuvant is due to specific mycobacterial cell envelope components, such as lipids and polysaccharides. Implicated mycobacterial lipids include, among others, the so-called cord factor or trehalose dimycolate, but limited information is available regarding the precise molecular nature of the stimulatory components responsible for the interaction with human APCs. In this regard, the majority of research aimed at identifying and characterizing individual immunostimulatory mycobacterial lipids has been performed in the murine system using bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. In this study, it is documented that potent immunostimulatory activity lies within the bacillus Calmette-Guérin nonpolar lipid class. This activity can be narrowed down to a remarkably simple monomycolyl glycerol (MMG) with the ability to stimulate human dendritic cells as assessed by enhanced expression of activation markers and the release of proinflammatory cytokines. A synthetic analog of MMG based on 32 carbons (C(32)) was found to exhibit comparable levels of immunostimulatory activities. Immunization of mice with the tuberculosis vaccine candidate, Ag85B-ESAT-6, in MMG or the synthetic analog using cationic liposomes as the delivery vehicle was found to give rise to a prominent Th1 response characterized by significant levels of IFN-gamma. Together, this development opens up the possibility of producing a novel class of chemically defined lipid adjuvants to enhance the activity of new vaccine formulations, directed against infectious agents including tuberculosis.

The adjuvant mechanism of cationic dimethyldioctadecylammonium liposomes.

Cationic liposomes are being used increasingly as efficient adjuvants for subunit vaccines but their precise mechanism of action is still unknown. Here, we investigated the adjuvant mechanism of cationic liposomes based on the synthetic amphiphile dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA). The liposomes did not have an effect on the maturation of murine bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs) related to the surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II, CD40, CD80 and CD86. We found that ovalbumin (OVA) readily associated with the liposomes (> 90%) when mixed in equal concentrations. This efficient adsorption onto the liposomes led to an enhanced uptake of OVA by BM-DCs as assessed by flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence laser-scanning microscopy. This was an active process, which was arrested at 4 degrees and by an inhibitor of actin-dependent endocytosis, cytochalasin D. In vivo studies confirmed the observed effect because adsorption of OVA onto DDA liposomes enhanced the uptake of the antigen by peritoneal exudate cells after intraperitoneal injection. The liposomes targeted antigen preferentially to antigen-presenting cells because we only observed a minimal uptake by T cells in mixed splenocyte cultures. The adsorption of antigen onto the liposomes increased the efficiency of antigen presentation more than 100 times in a responder assay with MHC class II-restricted OVA-specific T-cell receptor transgenic DO11.10 T cells. Our data therefore suggest that the primary adjuvant mechanism of cationic DDA liposomes is to target the cell membrane of antigen-presenting cells, which subsequently leads to enhanced uptake and presentation of antigen.

The combined CTA1-DD/ISCOMs vector is an effective intranasal adjuvant for boosting prior Mycobacterium bovis BCG immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. The current "gold standard" vaccine Mycobacterium bovis BCG has a limited efficacy that wanes over time. The development of a vaccine to boost BCG-induced immunity is therefore a highly active area of research. Mucosal administration of vaccines is believed to provide better protection against pathogens, such as M. tuberculosis, that invade the host via mucosal surfaces. In this study we demonstrate that an intranasal vaccine, comprising the antigenic fusion protein Ag85B-ESAT-6 and the mucosal combined adjuvant vector CTA1-DD/ISCOMs, strongly promotes a Th1-specific immune response, dominated by gamma interferon-secreting CD4-positive T cells. Mucosal administration of Ag85B-ESAT-6 mixed with CTA1-DD/ISCOMs strongly boosted prior BCG immunity, leading to a highly increased recruitment of antigen-specific cells to the site of infection. Most importantly, we observed a significantly (P < 0.001) reduced bacterial burden in the lung compared to nonboosted control animals. Thus, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of mucosal vaccination with Ag85B-ESAT-6 mixed with CTA1-DD/ISCOMs as adjuvant for stimulating TB-specific protective immunity in the lung.

Mucosal administration of Ag85B-ESAT-6 protects against infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and boosts prior bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunity.

We have examined the intranasal administration of a vaccine against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) consisting of the mucosal adjuvant LTK63 and the Ag Ag85B-ESAT-6. Vaccination with LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6 gave a strong and sustained Th1 response mediated by IFN-gamma-secreting CD4 cells, which led to long-lasting protection against tuberculosis, equivalent to that observed with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or Ag85B-ESAT-6 in dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide/monophosphoryl lipid A. Because a crucial element of novel vaccine strategies is the ability to boost BCG-derived immunity, we also tested whether LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6 could act as a BCG booster vaccine in BCG-vaccinated mice. We found that vaccinating with LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6 strongly boosted prior BCG-stimulated immunity. Compared with BCG-vaccinated nonboosted mice, we observed that infection with M.tb led to a significant increase in anti-M.tb-specific CD4 T cells in the lungs of LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6-boosted animals. This correlated with a significant increase in the protection against M.tb in LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6-boosted mice, compared with BCG-vaccinated animals. Thus, LTK63/Ag85B-ESAT-6 represents an efficient preventive vaccine against tuberculosis with a strong ability to boost prior BCG immunity.

beta1-Integrins determine the dendritic morphology which enhances DC-SIGN-mediated particle capture by dendritic cells.

The morphology of antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) is characterized by the presence of numerous long dendrites. The formation of these processes is shown to require the interaction between the beta1-integrin (CD29) on the surface of the DCs and fibronectin in the extracellular matrix. This interaction occurs at focal contacts formed at the tips of dendrites, which contain high concentrations of the beta1-integrins, actin and the cytoskeletal proteins vinculin, paxillin and talin. Dendrites contain an extensive microtubule (MT) network, and are retracted in the presence of the MT inhibitor colchicine, suggesting that MTs are essential for dendrite stability. The dendritic morphology is shown to contribute directly to an enhanced ability to capture dendritic cell specific ICAM-3 grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN)-coated beads. Time-lapse photography demonstrates that dendrites are highly dynamic structures, with cells extending and retracting multiple dendrites in different directions over a 3-h period. This motility increases the area scanned by an individual DC by over 2-fold. The unusual combination of a dendritic morphology and high motility is likely to play a major role in the efficient function of DCs as sentinels of the immune system.

Protective immunity to tuberculosis with Ag85B-ESAT-6 in a synthetic cationic adjuvant system IC31.

In this study, we evaluated the potential of a novel synthetic adjuvant designated IC31 for the ability to augment the immune response and protective efficacy of the well-known mycobacterial vaccine antigen, Ag85B-ESAT-6. The IC31 adjuvant, consisting of a vehicle based on the cationic peptide KLKL(5)KLK and the immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotide ODN1a signalling through the TLR9 receptor, was found to promote highly efficient Th1 responses. The combination of Ag85B-ESAT-6 and IC31 exhibited significant levels of protection in the mouse aerosol challenge model of tuberculosis and a detailed analysis of the immune response generated revealed the induction of CD4 T cells giving rise to high levels of IFN-gamma secretion. Furthermore, the combination of Ag85B-ESAT-6/IC31 was found to confer efficient protection in the guinea pig aerosol model of tuberculosis infection and is at present moving towards clinical testing.

Cationic liposomes containing mycobacterial lipids: a new powerful Th1 adjuvant system.

The immunostimulation provided by the mycobacterial cell wall has been exploited for many decades, e.g., in Freund's complete adjuvant. Recently, the underlying mechanism behind this adjuvant activity, including Toll receptor signaling, has begun to be unraveled, confirming the potential of mycobacterial constituents to act as adjuvants. In this study, the immunostimulatory properties of a Mycobacterium bovis BCG lipid extract were tested for their adjuvant activity. Administration of the lipids in dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium bromide-based cationic liposomes induced a powerful Th1 response characterized by markedly elevated antigen-specific immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a) isotype antibodies and substantial production of gamma interferon. The adjuvant formulation (designated mycosomes) elicited high levels of gamma interferon both in C57BL/6 as well as in Th2-prone BALB/c mice. Furthermore, the mycosomes induced immune responses to protein antigens from several sources including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Chlamydia muridarum, and tetanus toxoid. In a tuberculosis challenge model, the mycosomes combined with the Ag85B-ESAT-6 fusion protein were demonstrated to have a unique ability to maintain sustained immunological memory at a level superior to live BCG.