Chitosan as an adjuvant for poliovaccine.

The use of inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine is very important for eradicating poliomyelitis. However, this vaccine is not available readily in underdeveloped countries due to the high cost. Adjuvants can improve the immunogenicity of a vaccine and reduce the antigen dose required for vaccination, thus lowering the cost of the vaccine. Chitosan glutamate solution and a chitosan sulfate micro/nanoparticle suspension were tested as adjuvants for Imovax-inactivated poliovaccine and for inactivated monovalent poliovirus type 1, 2, and 3 vaccines obtained by inactivation of the attenuated Sabin poliovirus strains. Inactivated vaccines admixed with either chitosan glutamate or chitosan sulfate micro/nanoparticles and administered to mice showed significantly enhanced immunogenicity to poliovirus type 1, 2, and 3 strains compared to the respective vaccines administered without chitosan. Chitosan preparations increased the immunogenicity of 1:2 and 1:4 diluted inactivated Sabin strain preparations in mice 8- to 16-fold, so that the neutralizing antibody titers after vaccination with adjuvanted diluted vaccine were equal to those obtained after vaccination with undiluted vaccine administered without chitosan. Neutralizing antibodies could be detected in sera of rats vaccinated with undiluted, 1:10, and 1:100 diluted Imovax vaccine admixed with chitosan sulfate micro/nanoparticles, although in the control group, vaccination only with the undiluted vaccine resulted in antibody production. These results show that the chitosan glutamate solution and chitosan sulfate micro/nanoparticle suspension can significantly improve the immunogenicity of various poliovaccines, and reduce the effective antigen dose.