New method to boost immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine

Iranian researchers obtained promising results to increase the immunity level of hepatitis B vaccine through a simple and cheap method. Once the plan is successfully tested on human samples, one can be hopeful for the industrial production and exportation of the product. Hepatitis B vaccine is not able to create acceptable level of immunity in at least 10% of people. Therefore, researchers all over the country look for new approaches to increase immunogenicity of the vaccine. One of the approaches is the combination of adjuvant and the vaccine, which can increase the immunity response. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effect of Hep-c nano-adjuvant in increasing the immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine. The nano-adjuvant has been designed and produced based on nanotechnology, and it is hoped that it can modify immunity response caused by hepatitis B vaccine with its unique properties. Adjuvants and even nano-adjuvants that are used at commercial or laboratorial levels usually have limited immunogenicity, and some problems are usually created because of their toxicity. In this research, it was tried to produce a non-toxic adjuvant that has high immunogenicity. Results show that as the level of antibody produced in the body stays constant, cellular immunity indices significantly increase due to the use of the nano-adjuvant. Hep-c nano-adjuvant increases cytokines antiviral interferon gamma up to 400% and also increases proliferation of white corpuscles after they face hepatitis B virus antigen. Toxicology studies proved that the nano-adjuvant was classified among non-toxic materials. Results of the research have been published in Vaccine, vol. 31, issue 22, January 2013, pp. 2591-2597.