FimH as a mucosal adjuvant enhances persistent antibody response and protective efficacy of the anti-caries vaccine.

• FimH-S.T induces the maturation of DC2.4 by upregulating the cell surface molecules. • FimH-S.T provokes the production and release of cytokines via TLR4 signaling pathway. • FimH-S.T plus antigen enhances antibodies response and splenocyte proliferation. • FimH-S.T mixed with PAc decreases the caries lesions formation in rats. To investigate whether the recombinant FimH-S.T protein could modulate immune response to anti-caries vaccine in vitro and in vivo. Recombinant FimH protein derived from Salmonella was constructed and purified. The expression of dendritic cell maturation markers and cytokines release were performed by flow cytometry, Real-time PCR and ELISA. In addition, BALB/c mice were administered with anti-caries PAc vaccine plus FimH-S.T, antibody responses were evaluated by ELISA. Splenocytes of immunized mice were detected for their proliferative ability in response to in vitro retreatment with PAc antigen by flow cytometry. Caries protection against dental caries formation was also investigated. The purified FimH-S.T induced phenotypic maturation of DC2.4 by up-regulating the expression of costimulatory molecules and MHC II, provoked the production and secretion of cytokines via TLR4-dependent signaling pathway in vitro. Furthermore, the mice immunized with the mixture of FimH-S.T and PAc significantly enhanced the PAc-specific antibodies in the serum along with saliva and promoted splenocyte proliferation. Our results also confirmed that PAc+FimH-S.T decreased the caries lesions formation which provided high protective efficacy against dental caries. Our study demonstrates that recombinant FimH-S.T could enhance specific IgA responses and protection of anti-caries vaccine, possessing mucosal adjuvant ability by activating DC2.4 via TLR4 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]