The Bacterial Second Messenger cdiGMP Exhibits Promising Activity as a Mucosal Adjuvant

Abstract

ABSTRACT The development of mucosal adjuvants is still a critical need in vaccinology. In the present work, we show that bis(3′,5′)-cyclic dimeric GMP (cdiGMP), a second messenger that modulates cell surface properties of several microorganisms, exerts potent activity as a mucosal adjuvant. BALB/c mice were immunized intranasally with the model antigen β-galactosidase (β-Gal) coadministered with cdiGMP. Animals receiving cdiGMP as an adjuvant showed significantly higher anti-β-Gal immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers in sera than controls (i.e., 512-fold [ P < 0.05]). Coadministration of cdiGMP also stimulated efficient β-Gal-specific secretory IgA production in the lung ( P < 0.016) and vagina ( P < 0.036). Cellular immune responses were observed in response to both the β-Gal protein and a peptide encompassing its major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted epitope. The IgG1-to-IgG2a ratio of anti-β-Gal antibodies and the observed profiles of secreted cytokines suggest that a dominant Th1 response pattern is promoted by mucosal coadministration of cdiGMP. Finally, the use of cdiGMP as a mucosal adjuvant also led to the stimulation of in vivo cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses in C57BL/6 mice intranasally immunized with ovalbumin and cdiGMP (up to 30% of specific lysis). The results obtained indicate that cdiGMP is a promising tool for the development of mucosal vaccines.