Biomaterials-based infection vaccines: how they are made and how they work (IMAGE)

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard

Biomaterials-based infection vaccines: how they are made and how they work

Caption

This illustration shows how a ciVax infection vaccine against a pathogenic E. coli strain is produced and applied. First, carbohydrate-containing surface molecules (PAMPs) of killed bacteria are captured with magnetic beads coated with FcMBL. The beads are then combined with mesoporous silica (MPS) rods and immune cell-recruiting GMCSF and immune cell-activating CpG adjuvant to form the complete ciVax vaccine. Upon injection under the skin of mice, the ciVAX vaccine forms a permeable scaffold that recruits immature dendritic cells (DCs), educates them to present PAMP-derived antigens, and additionally activates and releases them again. The reprogrammed DCs then migrate to draining lymph nodes where they orchestrate a complex immune response, including reactive T cells and antibody-producing B cells reacting against the E. coli pathogen.

Credit

Wyss Institute at Harvard University.

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