The promotion of type 1 T helper cell responses to cationic polymers in vivo via toll-like receptor-4 mediated IL-12 secretion

The potential of antigen and TriMix sonoporation using mRNA-loaded microbubbles for ultrasound-triggered cancer immunotherapy

“…Another possibility is direct triggering of innate immune responses by the cationic lipids (in this case DOTAP) within the mRNA lipoplexes, via TLR4 ligation. This, charge-related TLR activation was previously reported for DOTAP-containing lipoplexes as well as for various cationic polymers that are routinely used as transfection reagents [32,33]. Likely, the observed effects are caused by a combination of these different mechanisms.…”

Exploring ‘new’ bioactivities of polymers at the nano–bio interface

“…The complex was internalised by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that subsequently induced non-proinflammatory cytokine release, which may be a major mechanism for the immune activity of PEI [10]. In addition to its adjuvant role, PEI was also able to induce cytokine expression that recruited APCs [9], inhibit the development of arthritis [12], as well as promote the response of type 1 T helper cells in vivo [11]. None of these diverse, immunemodulating activities of PEI has been found in its monomers.…”

“…The cationic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI), long used as a carrier tool for gene transfection, was recently found to be a promising adjuvant [9,10] and was used as a direct therapeutic agent for immunotherapy [11][12][13]. As a potent mucosal adjuvant against viral subunit glycoprotein antigens [9,10], PEI co-administrated with viral vaccine antigen gp140 increased the production of antigen-specific IgG approximately 100 fold, compared to gp140 alone.…”

Bioreducible alginate-poly(ethylenimine) nanogels as an antigen-delivery system robustly enhance vaccine-elicited humoral and cellular immune responses

“…These data indicate a marginal effect of nanogels on DC maturation. Nanogelpromoted DC maturation might be due to the presence of PEI, which has been reported to activate mouse splenocytes and macrophages through TLR4 [35]. And there was no significant difference between AP-CC or AP-SS treated DCs, suggesting nanogel-promoted DC maturation was not related with their redox-sensitivity.…”