Saturated phospholipids are required for nano- to micron-size transformation of cholesterol-containing liposomes upon QS21 addition

Pushpendra Singh; Zoltan Beck; Gary R Matyas; Carl R Alving

doi:10.1080/08982104.2018.1538239

Saturated phospholipids are required for nano- to micron-size transformation of cholesterol-containing liposomes upon QS21 addition

J Liposome Res. 2019 Sep;29(3):247-250. doi: 10.1080/08982104.2018.1538239. Epub 2018 Nov 23.

Authors

Pushpendra Singh^{1

2}, Zoltan Beck^{1

2}, Gary R Matyas², Carl R Alving²

Affiliations

¹ a U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine , 6720A Rockledge Drive , Bethesda , MD 20817 , USA.
² b Laboratory of Adjuvant and Antigen Research, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research , 503 Robert Grant Avenue , Silver Spring , MD 20910 , USA.

PMID: 30350748
DOI: 10.1080/08982104.2018.1538239

Abstract

Liposomes containing cholesterol and monophosphoryl lipid A (such as ALFQ and AS01B) are vaccine adjuvants. During construction of the formulations, addition of QS21 to nano-size (50-100 nm) liposomes resulted in extremely large (up to ∼30 µm) liposomes in ALFQ, but AS01B liposomes remained small nano-vesicles. Here, we show that saturation of phospholipid chains is essential for production of large liposomes by QS21.

Keywords: 3D-PHAD; AS01B; QS21; army liposome formulation containing QS21 (ALFQ); monophosphoryl lipid A; vaccine adjuvant.

MeSH terms

Adjuvants, Immunologic / chemistry
Cholesterol / chemistry*
Lipid A / analogs & derivatives*
Lipid A / chemistry
Liposomes / chemistry*
Particle Size
Saponins / chemistry*

Substances

Adjuvants, Immunologic
Lipid A
Liposomes
Saponins
saponin QA-21V1
Cholesterol
monophosphoryl lipid A