Female genital tract immunization: Evaluation of candidate immunoadjuvants on epithelial cell secretion of CCL20 and dendritic/Langerhans cell maturation

The female genital tract is an important site for numerous pathogens entry. Local immunization, generating specific mucosal IgA and systemic IgG, represents an interesting alternative immunization pathway. However, such a vaccine strategy needs mucosal adjuvants to obtain the best immune response. Considering that the immunization process is mainly dependent on the capture and on the transport of the antigen by Langerhans cells, we evaluated potential adjuvant molecules by analysing their effects on the CCL20 secretion by endocervical and exocervical/vaginal epithelial cells as well as on dendritic cell and Langerhans cell maturation. We demonstrated that DC-Chol and Zymosan are the most efficient mucosal candidate immunoadjuvants that generate a strong increase of CCL20 secretion by the two epithelial cell lines and the maturation of dendritic and Langerhans cells, respectively.