Necator americanus (hookworm) infects over half a billion people worldwide. Anthelminthic drugs are commonly used to treat the infection; however, vaccination is a more favorable strategy to combat this parasite. We designed new B-cell peptide epitopes based on the aspartic protease of N. americanus (Na-APR-1). The peptides were conjugated to self-adjuvanting lipid core peptide (LCP) systems via stepwise solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and copper catalyst azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reactions. The LCP vaccine candidates were able to self-assemble into nanoparticles, were administered to mice without the use of additional adjuvant, and generated antibodies that recognized the parent epitope. However, only one LCP derivative was able to produce a high titer of antibodies specific to Na-APR-1; circular dichroism analyses of this compound showed a β-sheet conformation for the incorporated epitope. This study provides important insight in epitope and delivery system design for the development of a vaccine against hookworm infections.
CITATION STYLE
Fuaad, A. A. H. A., Pearson, M. S., Pickering, D. A., Becker, L., Zhao, G., Loukas, A. C., … Toth, I. (2015). Lipopeptide Nanoparticles: Development of Vaccines against Hookworm Parasite. ChemMedChem, 10(10), 1647–1654. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201500227
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