Blom, Rebecca Agaatha Maria; Erni, Silvia T; Krempaská, Kristína; Schaerer, Olivier; van Dijk, R Maarten; Amacker, Mario; Moser, Christian; Hall, Sean; Von Garnier, Christophe; Blank, Fabian (2016). A Triple Co-Culture Model of the Human Respiratory Tract to Study Immune-Modulatory Effects of Liposomes and Virosomes. PLoS ONE, 11(9), e0163539. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0163539
|
Text
http___journals.plos.org_plosone_article_file_id=10.1371_journal.pone.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (4MB) | Preview |
The respiratory tract with its ease of access, vast surface area and dense network of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) represents an ideal target for immune-modulation. Bio-mimetic nanocarriers such as virosomes may provide immunomodulatory properties to treat diseases such as allergic asthma. In our study we employed a triple co-culture model of epithelial cells, macrophages and dendritic cells to simulate the human airway barrier. The epithelial cell line 16HBE was grown on inserts and supplemented with human blood monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) and dendritic cells (MDDCs) for exposure to influenza virosomes and liposomes. Additionally, primary human nasal epithelial cells (PHNEC) and EpCAM+ epithelial progenitor cell mono-cultures were utilized to simulate epithelium from large and smaller airways, respectively. To assess particle uptake and phenotype change, cell cultures were analyzed by flow cytometry and pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations were measured by ELISA. All cell types internalized virosomes more efficiently than liposomes in both mono- and co-cultures. APCs like MDMs and MDDCs showed the highest uptake capacity. Virosome and liposome treatment caused a moderate degree of activation in MDDCs from mono-cultures and induced an increased cytokine production in co-cultures. In epithelial cells, virosome uptake was increased compared to liposomes in both mono- and co-cultures with EpCAM+ epithelial progenitor cells showing highest uptake capacity. In conclusion, all cell types successfully internalized both nanocarriers with virosomes being taken up by a higher proportion of cells and at a higher rate inducing limited activation of MDDCs. Thus virosomes may represent ideal carrier antigen systems to modulate mucosal immune responses in the respiratory tract without causing excessive inflammatory changes.