抄録
Ovalbumin coupled with liposomes (OVA-liposome) induced selective unresponsiveness of anti-OVA IgE antibody production in BALB/c mice, whereas OVA adsorbed with aluminum hydroxide (OVA-alum) induced a substantial amount of anti-OVA IgE antibody production. Ovalbumin-liposome and OVA-alum predominantly induced IgG2a and IgG1 anti-OVA production, respectively. These results suggest that OVA-liposome and OVA-alum induce type 1 and type 2 T helper (Th) immune responses, respectively. To further investigate this issue, we examined the cytokine production induced by these two distinct adjuvants. Spleen cells taken from mice immunized with either OVA-liposome or OVA-alum were cultured in vitro with OVA and the cytokine production from each culture was analyzed. It was demonstrated that spleen cells from mice immunized with OVA-liposome produced more interferon (IFN)-γ than those immunized with OVA-alum and, furthermore, interleukin (IL)-4 was produced only by spleen cells from mice immunized with OVA-alum. These results favor the notion that OVA-liposome and OVA-alum induce Th1 and Th2 cytokines, respectively. Interestingly, the production of IL-2, a Th1 cytokine, was higher in the OVA-alum-immunized group and the production of IL-10, a Th2 cytokine, remained at low levels in both groups after primary immunization; levels of IL-10 increased in the OVA-liposome-immunized group after secondary immunization. These results do not agree with the above notion and, thus, suggest that it may be important to consider the balance between IFN-γ-producing cells and IL-4-producing cells rather than that between Th1 and Th2 cells for the regulation of IgE antibody production.
