Development and characterization of novel carrier gel core liposomes based transmission blocking malaria vaccine.

The aim of present work was to investigate the potential utility of novel carrier gel core liposomes for intramuscular delivery of transmission blocking malaria antigen Pfs25 and to evaluate the effect of co-administration of vaccine adjuvant CpGODN on immune enhancement of recombinant protein antigen Pfs25. In the present work we have prepared gel core liposomes containing core of biocompatible polymer poly acrylic acid in phospholipid bilayer by reverse phase evaporation method and characterized for various in vitro parameters. In process stability of the encapsulated antigen was evaluated by SDS-PAGE followed by western blotting. The immune stimulating ability was studied by measuring anti-Pfs25 antibody titer in serum of Balb/c mice following intramuscular administration of various formulations. A Significant and perdurable immune responses was obtained after intramuscular administration of gel core liposomes encapsulated Pfs25 as compared to Pfs25 loaded conventional liposomes. Moreover co-administration of CpGODN in liposomes (conventional and gel core) was found to further increase the immunogenicity of vaccine. The result indicates high potential of gel core liposomes for their use as a carrier adjuvant for intramuscular delivery of recombinant antigen Pfs25 based transmission blocking malaria vaccine.