Humoral immunoresponse to varicella-zoster virus pernasally coadministered with Escherichia coli enterotoxin in mice

It is evaluated whether Escherichia coli enterotoxin is useful for induction of immunity to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) as a mucosal adjuvant in mice. When a commercially available live varicella vaccine (Oka strain) and toxin were administered simultaneously via a nasal route three times at 2 or 6 month intervals, an antibody neutralizing VZV was detected in half or all of the mice vaccinated, respectively. The antibody specific to the vaccine strain of VZV reacted to five proteins, molecular weights of which were 110 K, 100 K, 62 K, 54 K and 46 K. These proteins were composed of glycosylated products of all kinds of glycoproteins. These results suggest that although a nasal administration of the vaccine without the adjuvant has little immunogenicity in mice, the simultaneous administration of the live vaccine and the toxin over a long period induces a specific humoral immunity to VZV. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.