Oral Presentation International Peptide Symposium 2023

Glycolipid-Peptide Conjugate Vaccines Chemically Programmed for Nanoparticle Self-Assembly (#64)

Sarah L Draper 1 2 , Michael Wilson 3 , Ching-wen Tang 3 , Anna H Mooney 3 , Lauren E Holz 4 5 , Susanna T.S Chan 1 , Juby Mathew 1 , Iman Kavianinia 6 , William R Heath 4 5 , Ian F Hermans 2 3 , Margaret A Brimble 2 6 7 , Gavin F Painter 1 2
  1. Ferrier Research Institute, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand
  2. Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Wellington, New Zealand
  3. Cancer Immunotherapy Programme, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
  4. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. Australian research Council Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  7. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

We have previously shown that our glycolipid-peptide conjugate vaccine platform utilising NKT cell agonists can be used to validate candidate CD8+ T cell antigens where liver immunity is important for preventing disease (for example malaria and hepatitis B).1 However, we established variability in immune responses were related to peptide physicochemical properties rather than chemical design or immunogenicity of epitopes. To overcome this we investigated chemically programming self-assembly of the glycolipid-peptide into nanoparticles by adding charge-modifying motifs. We established a design that self-assembled into small (<200 nm) nanoparticles irrespective of antigen composition and evaluated their ability to generate cellular immunity.

  1. Lauren E. Holz et al., Glycolipid-peptide vaccination induces liver-resident memory CD8+ T cells that protect against rodent malaria. Sci. Immunol. 5,eaaz8035 (2020). DOI:10.1126/sciimmunol.aaz8035