Defensive Driving: Directing HIV-1 Vaccine-Induced Humoral Immunity to the Mucosa with Chemokine Adjuvants

Figure 4

MALT molecular chemokine adjuvants in DNA vaccines. (a) Following parenteral delivery of antigen and chemokine plasmid DNA, transformed cells (tan) will transcribe, translate, process, and present the antigen. (b) Antigen (black circles) is also secreted from transformed cells, as is the chemokine adjuvant (red circles), creating a local chemokine gradient which will recruit chemokine receptor-bearing cells (red chemokine receptors). Some recruited cells will be unable to respond to antigen (dark gray); others will be recruited as a result of vaccination-induced inflammation (light gray). Recruited cells bearing the appropriate receptors and capable of responding to antigen (red B cell and blue T cell), will upregulate the chemokine receptor and proliferate. (c) Receptor upregulation following chemokine ligation and antigen-experience imprints these antigen-experienced cells with the ability to traffic to the MALT effector site, resulting in antigen-specific mucosal responses.