Enhancement of humoral and cellular immune responses by monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) as an adjuvant to the rabies vaccine in BALB/c mice

The development of effective vaccines against the rabies virus could prevent infection with this fatal virus. However, the current rabies vaccine fails to provide a full range of protection because of its limited ability to elicit a cellular immune response and the requirement for repeat vaccination. Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) is well known as a potent adjuvant to enhance immune responses against virus infection. Here we investigated the efficacy of MPLA as an adjuvant to improve the humoral and cellular immune responses to the rabies vaccine in BALB/c mice. Supplementation of the rabies vaccine with MPLA significantly accelerated the production of specific antibodies by 10 days compared to the original vaccines. Furthermore, MPLA promoted the induction of stronger cellular immune responses by the rabies vaccine, including the production of IL-4, IFN-γ and the activation of CD4+/CD8+ T cells, than those elicited without MPLA. Collectively, our findings indicated that MPLA enhances humoral and cellular immunity and is a promising adjuvant for the development of more effective rabies vaccines.