[Lipopeptides as natural adjuvants for vaccines from Gram-negative bacteria]

Bacterial cell wall components such as lipopolysaccharide, a variety of membrane proteins, murein, and lipoprotein can act as immunoadjuvants for bacterial vaccines, thus enhancing protection from bacterial infections. Synthetically prepared N-terminal parts of the lipoprotein from Enterobacteria carrying three fatty acid residues or lipopeptide analogs containing one to four aminoacids bound to S-glycerylcysteine act as potent immunoadjuvants in vivo in combination with or covalently linked to antigens. Here we demonstrate that the supplementation of Salmonella vaccines with these synthetic lipopeptides significantly enhances their vaccine efficiency in mice. Variations in the native lipopeptide structure regarding chain length and amino acid sequence of the peptide moiety, as well as modifications of the lipoamino acid, lead to reduction or even complete loss of the adjuvant activity. The immunoadjuvant properties of the lipopeptides as described here are mediated by an enhancement of the humoral immune response.