Abstract
Natural killer T (NKT) cells, a small population of T cells, are capable of influencing a wide range of the immune cells, including T cells, B cells, dendritic cells and macrophages. In the present review, the antiviral role of the NKT cells and the strategies of viruses to evade the functioning of NKT cell have been illustrated. The nanoparticle-based formulations have superior immunoadjuvant potential by facilitating the efficient antigen processing and presentation that favorably elicits the antigen-specific immune response. Finally, the immunoadjuvant potential of the NKT cell ligand was explored in the development of antiviral vaccines. The use of an NKT cell-activating nanoparticle-based vaccine delivery system was supported in order to avoid the NKT cell anergy. The results from the animal and preclinical studies demonstrated that nanoparticle-incorporated NKT cell ligands may have potential implications as an immunoadjuvant in the formulation of an effective antiviral vaccine that is capable of eliciting the antigen-specific activation of the cell-mediated and humoral immune responses.
Highlights
We describe the antiviral roles of Natural killer T (NKT) cells and discuss the implications of NKT cell-based nanoparticle vaccines to protect against viral infections
The NKT cells show immune-stimulating activity through the maturation of the dendritic cells and boosting of antibody production [98,99]. Since they induce a rapid maturation of the dendritic cells (DCs) and B cells, their activation may elicit a strong antigento fully exploit the Invariant NKT (iNKT) role to induce an effective CD8 T-cell response, it is essential that α-GalCer and antigens are delivered to the same professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs)
Viruses evade the functioning of the NKT cells by utilizing multiple immune evasion mechanisms
Summary
Natural Killer T (NKT) cells belong to a subset of T cells that can influence the status of the innate and adaptive immune systems because they secrete huge amounts of Th1 and Th2 cytokines (Figure 1) [1]. The levels of NKT cells are lower in humans, comprising about 0.04–1.3% of circulating lymphocytes in the blood, spleen and bone marrow They make up about 0.001–0.01% of lymphocytes in the thymus and about 1% in the liver [3]. Type II NKT cells, called non-classical NKT cells, are more diverse in TCR α-chain (but some Vα3.2-Jα9, Vα8 in mice) and TCR-β chains (but some Vβ8.2 in mice) (Figure 2). Vaccines 2021, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW cells express the diverse TCR-α and TCR-β chains They are nonreactive to α-Galcer and secrete Th1 cytokines. T cells andtomacrophages that are imimportant players cell-mediated acts IFN-γ on B cells and the contributes humoral immunity. Portant players in cell-mediated immunity, whereas IL-4 acts on B cells and contributes to humoral immunity
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