CD40mAb adjuvant induces a rapid antibody response that may be beneficial in post-exposure prophylaxis

Abstract

Active vaccination can be effective as a post-exposure prophylaxis, but the rapidity of the immune response induced, relative to the incubation time of the pathogen, is critical. We show here that CD40mAb conjugated to antigen induces a more rapid specific antibody response than currently used immunological adjuvants, alum and monophosphoryl lipid A.

Figure 1

C57Bl/6 mice were immunized once, as described in the text, with ovalbumin and the adjuvant shown at the top of the figure, and bled at various days post-immunization (shown on left side of figure). ELISA data are plotted for 5 mice in each case with the reciprocal of the serum dilution on the x axis, and optical density at 490 nm on the y axis. Note the scale of the y axis varies by row. Response to CD40mAb adjuvanted vaccine was significantly better than the response to MPL or alum at day 7 (p < 0.05, One-way ANOVA with Dunnet's post-test).