Protein-only nanocapsules induce cross-presentation in dendritic cells, demonstrating potential as an antigen...

Templating has been demonstrated to be an efficient method of nanocapsule preparation. However, there have been no reports of using protein-only nanocapsules as an antigen delivery system. Such a system would enable the delivery of antigen without additional polymers. This study focused on defining the structural and cellular characteristics of nanocapsules consisting of antigen (ovalbumin) alone, synthesized by the templating method using highly monodispersed solid core mesoporous shell (SC/MS) and mesoporous (MS) silica nanoparticles of 410 nm and 41 nm in diameter, respectively. The synthesized ovalbumin nanocapsules were homogeneous in structure, and cellular uptake was observed in DC2.4 murine immature dendritic cells with minimal cytotoxicity. The nanocapsules were localized intracellularly and induced antigen presentation by the cross-presentation pathway. The templating system, using SC/MS and MS silica nanoparticles, was demonstrated to be an effective nanocapsule synthesis method for a new antigen delivery system.