: Some TLR agonists may up-regulate the activation of dendritic cells caused by viral antigenic peptides and antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which are crucial in HPV vaccine development.We investigated the ability of three TLR agonists, imiquimod, PIC and CpG, to stimulate the maturation of murine BM-DCs loaded with HPV11E7 CTL epitopes, and the subsequent effect click here on HPV-specific T cell responses and tumour protection in a C57BL/6 mouse model.We found that TLR agonists, mostly PIC and imiquimod, stimulated the maturation of BM-DCs pulsed with HPV11E7 CTL epitope peptide.
In combination with the epitope peptide, the TLR agonists CPG and PIC augmented epitope-specific Th1 cytokine production in vivo, while imiquimod and CPG, but not PIC, enhanced Th1 cytokine production in vitro.However, we failed to observe in vivo CTL cytotoxicity and anti-tumour protection upon TLR ligation in our mouse model.Our results demonstrate that TLR agonists activate HPV11E7 CTL epitope pulsed BM-DCs to promote specific Th1 immunity in C57BL/6 mouse read more model, indicating the promise of TLR agonists as adjuvants for HPV epitope/DC-based multifaceted vaccines against HPV infections such as condyloma accuminatum.