Comparative tissue proteomics reveals unique action mechanisms of vaccine adjuvants

Yibo Li; Zhuofan Li; Xinyuan Chen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105800

Comparative tissue proteomics reveals unique action mechanisms of vaccine adjuvants

iScience. 2022 Dec 14;26(1):105800. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105800. eCollection 2023 Jan 20.

Authors

Yibo Li¹, Zhuofan Li¹, Xinyuan Chen¹

Affiliation

¹ Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island, 7 Greenhouse Road, Avedisian Hall, Room 480, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.

Abstract

Radiofrequency adjuvant (RFA) was recently developed to boost influenza vaccination without the safety concerns of chemical adjuvants due to their physical nature. Yet, the action mechanisms of RFA remain largely unknown. Omics techniques offer new opportunities to identify molecular mechanisms of RFA. This study utilized comparative tissue proteomics to explore molecular mechanisms of the physical RFA. Comparison of RFA and chemical adjuvant (Alum, AddaVax, MPL, MPL/Alum)-induced tissue proteome changes identified 14 exclusively induced proteins by RFA, among which heat shock protein (HSP) 70 was selected for further analysis due to its known immune-modulating functions. RFA showed much weakened ability to boost ovalbumin and pandemic influenza vaccination in HSP70 knockout than wild-type mice, hinting crucial roles of HSP70 in RFA effects. This study supports comparative tissue proteomics to be an effective tool to study molecular mechanisms of vaccine adjuvants.

Keywords: immunity; medical biotechnology; proteomics.

Grants and funding

R01 AI139473/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States