Distribution of BCG-CWS loaded nanoparticles in the spleen after intravenous injection affects cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity

Abstract Interest has developed in the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) cell wall skeleton (BCG-CWS) as a noninfectious adjuvant. Although BCG-CWS readily undergoes aggregation, in a previous study, we applied it to cancer immunotherapy via intravenous administration by encapsulating the BCG-CWS into nanoparticles (CWS-NPs). The CWS-NPs were taken up by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II+ (MHC-II+) cells and induced antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity. However, the nature of the contribution of MHC-II+ cells to the CTL response continues to be unclear. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the distribution of CWS-NPs in the spleen and CTL activity. The main MHC-II+ cells that internalized the CWS-NPs were B cells. Decreasing the level of polyethylene glycol (PEG) modification increased the uptake of CWS-NPs by B cells, leading to an increased CTL activity. A comparison of CWS-NPs with different uptake efficiencies into dendritic cells (DCs) and B cells suggested that the DCs with internalized CWS-NPs may contribute to CTL activation compared with B cells. We succeeded in enhancing CTL activity by the CWS-NPs and the findings reported herein should provide important information regarding target cells for the development of CWS-NP.