Recombinant banana lectin as mucosal immunostimulator

To explore the potential usage of recombinant banana lectin as an immunostimulator it was of interest to analyze the effect it exerted in vivo in mice, upon two different routes of exposure. By Western blotting analysis of the gastric and intestinal luminal content it was found that recombinant banana lectin is stable in vivo in the mouse digestive tract, where it specifically interacts with the mucosal surfaces which can be inhibited by the addition of glucose. Its attachment to mice jejunum has been confirmed by immunofluorescence. In addition, it was able to induce systemic immunity, evidenced by specific antibody production, by oral application, a property that might be exploited for the induction of systemic immune responses.

► Recombinant banana lectin is very stable in vivo in the mouse digestive tract.
► It interacts with the mucosal surfaces which can be inhibited with glucose.
► Both oral and i.m. application to mice leads to an increase in lectin specific IgG of the IgG1 subclass.
► At the dose applied in this study we found no systemic tolerance induction.