%0 Journal Article %A Brun, Paola %A Scarpa, Melania %A Grillo, Alessia %A Palù, Giorgio %A Mengoli, Carlo %A Zecconi, Alfonso %A Spigaglia, Patrizia %A Mastrantonio, Paola %A Castagliuolo, Ignazio %T Clostridium difficile TxAC314 and SLP-36kDa enhance the immune response toward a co-administered antigen %D 2008 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 57 %N 6 %P 725-731 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.47736-0 %K i.m., intramuscularly %K IFN-γ, gamma interferon %K IL-2, interleukin-2 %K LT, heat-labile enterotoxin %K i.n., intranasally %K SLP, surface-layer protein %K DC, dendritic cell %K SLP-36kDa, fragment of the 36 kDa SLP %K s.c., subcutaneously %K TcdA, toxin A %K FnbpA, fibronectin-binding protein A %K CT, cholera toxin %I Microbiology Society, %X This study evaluated the in vivo adjuvant activity of two peptides derived from Clostridium difficile: a fragment of the receptor-binding domain of toxin A (TxAC314) and a fragment of the 36 kDa surface-layer protein (SLP-36kDa) from strain C253. Their ability to affect the magnitude, distribution and polarization of the immune response against fibronectin-binding protein A (FnbpA), a protective vaccine antigen against Staphylococcus aureus, was evaluated using two different routes of immunization: intranasal and subcutaneous. It was shown that (i) the route of immunization affected the magnitude of the immune response; (ii) both peptides enhanced the production of circulating anti-FnbpA IgG and IgA; (iii) following mucosal immunization TxAC314 was more effective than SLP-36kDa at inducing antibody in the gastrointestinal tract; (iv) the adjuvant influenced the Th1/Th2 balance; and (v) TxAC314 was more effective than SLP-36kDa in inducing a cell-mediated response. These studies provide insight into the ability of different C. difficile-derived peptides to differentially affect and polarize the activity of the immune system and on their potential use as adjuvants in newly developed vaccines. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.47736-0