Trafficking of surface-linked and encapsulated liposomal antigens in macrophages: an immunocytochemical study

Liposomal antigens are potent adjuvants of humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Although this property requires as an essential condition a physical association between the antigen and the phospholipid vehicle, the nature of the association, i.e., encapsulation or surface linkage, markedly influences the outcome of the elicited response. Available evidence suggests that macrophages are involved in this fine tuning of the immune response in a manner that is not yet clearly established. It is postulated that this might be related to their capacity to interact differently with surface-linked and encapsulated formulations. Using conalbumin as a model antigen, we address the question by analyzing the movements of encapsulated and surface-linked antigen as well as those of MHC-II molecules in macrophages in a pulse-chase immunoelectron microscopic study carried out over a 24-hr period. The antigen was followed using a polyclonal serum specifically raised against fragmented conalbumin (fCA) that allows the detection of processed antigen and of some MHC-peptide complexes. The results indicate that, in macrophages, the two liposomal formulations affect macrophage morphology in distinct ways and circulate through the various subcellular compartments with different kinetics. On the basis of the overall results, we conclude that surface-linked antigen gains access less readily to the endogenous presentation pathway than encapsulated antigen but can favor a more sustained activation of the immune system through its production of exosome-like structures and its more thorough utilization of the MHC-II pathway.