Screening for Potential Adjuvants Administered by the Pulmonary Route for Tuberculosis Vaccines

Tuberculosis (TB) infects one third of the world's population, and new infections occur at a rate of 1/s. Better vaccines are needed than the live mycobacterium Bacille Calmette-Gu,rin (BCG). Alveolar macrophages (AMI broken vertical bar s) play a central role in pulmonary manifestations of TB. Targeting immunomodulators to AMI broken vertical bar s, the first line of defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), may initiate a potent cell-mediated immune response. Muramyl dipeptide (MDP) and trehalose dibehenate (TDB) have elicited strong immune response when delivered to the lungs as aerosols. AMI broken vertical bar s show toxicity in response to some immunomodulators. The objective of this work was to screen the immunomodulators MDP and/or TDB encapsulated in microparticles (MPs) and to evaluate certain indicators of toxicity in human AMI broken vertical bar-like cells. Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) MPs containing MDP and/or TDB were prepared by spray-drying. The morphology, particle size distribution, and immunomodulator encapsulation efficiency of MPs were examined. THP-1 cells were exposed to these MPs for 24 h and characteristics of cell morphology, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) release, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), N-acetyl-beta-d-glucosaminidase (NAG) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in AMI broken vertical bar culture supernatants were measured. MTT assay was used to assess the viability of cells. Spray-drying produced low-density MPs having volume median diameters between 4 and 6 mu m as measured by laser diffraction and projected area diameter between 3 and 5 mu m calculated by microscopy. More TNF-alpha was produced by THP-1 cells exposed to MPs composed of PLGA-MDP or PLGA alone than PLGA-TDB. LDH release following exposure to MPs of PLGA-MDP and PLGA alone was greater than controls. NAG release was higher following exposure to MPs of PLGA alone or PLGA-MDP 0.1% than PLGA-TDB (0.1% and 1.0%). Cells remained viable after exposure to MPs as per MTT assay. PLGA-MDP MPs demonstrated statistically elevated indicators of biochemical responses in cell culture compared to PLGA-TDB MPs, but the extent of their potential to elicit adverse effects in vivo must be studied independently.