Synthesis and Characterization of Rapidly Degrading Polyanhydrides as Vaccine Adjuvants

There is a currently a need to develop adjuvants that are best suited to simultaneously enhance immune responses, induce immunologic memory, improve patient compliance (i.e., reduce doses and inflammation), and provide vaccine shelf stability for stockpiling and global deployment to challenging environments. Biodegradable polyanhydrides have been investigated extensively to overcome such challenges. It has been shown that controlling copolymer composition can result in chemistry-dependent immunomodulatory capabilities. These studies have revealed that copolymers rich in sebacic acid (SA) are highly internalized by antigen presenting cells and confer improved shelf stability of encapsulated proteins, while copolymers rich in 1,8-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)-3,6-dioxaoctane (CPTEG) also exhibit enhanced internalization by and activation of antigen presenting cells (APCs), in addition to providing superior retention of protein stability following encapsulation and release. However, to date, CPTEG:SA copolymers have not been synthesized and described. In this work, we hypothesized that new copolymers composed of CPTEG and SA would combine the advantages of both monomers in terms of enhanced thermal properties, maintaining antigenicity of encapsulated proteins following nanoparticle synthesis, and superior cellular internalization and activation by APCs, demonstrated by the upregulation of costimulatory markers CD80, CD86, and CD40, as well as the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Herein, we describe the synthesis and design of novel CPTEG:SA nanoparticles with improved thermal properties, payload stability, and internalization by antigen presenting cells for applications in vaccine delivery. The performance of these new CPTEG:SA formulations was compared to that of traditional polyanhydride copolymers.