Interferon-alpha: an effective adjuvant for peptide-based cytotoxic T-cell vaccines

H Takasu1

  • 1Department of Immunology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume 830-0011, Japan.

An important issue for developing a vaccine therapy for human malignancy is identifying adjuvants that can elicit T-cell responses to peptides. The present study evaluates interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) as a vaccine adjuvant. C57BL/6 mice were immunized subcutaneously with peptide derived from influenza virus (Flu) either with or without IFN-alpha using different vaccine formulations. IFN-alpha significantly enhanced cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) induction in mice immunized with Flu peptide in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA). Flu peptide administered continuously for 3 days by osmotic pump with IFN-alpha could elicit CTL induction, whereas either Flu peptide or IFN-alpha alone was non immunogenic. Furthermore, injection of the liquid formation of Flu peptide with IFN-alpha in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) did not elicit CTL induction. These results suggest that the continuous administration of peptide and local delivery of IFN-alpha are important for efficient CTL induction, and that IFN-alpha is an effective adjuvant for peptide-based vaccines.

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