Immunotherapy of Chenopodium Album Induced Asthma by Intranasal Administration of CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides in BALB/c Mice

Abstract

<b>Background</b>: There are many therapeutic methods for allergic conditions. CpG oli-gonucleotides play a critical role in immunity via the augmentation of Th1 and suppres-sion of Th2 responses. <br/><b>Objective</b>: In the present study we aimed to estimate the effec-tiveness of intranasal administration of CpG ODN plus Chenopodium album allergen in allergic asthma compared with the administration of allergen alone and to find out how CpG ODN therapy is useful in the treatment of allergen induced asthma. <br/><b>Methods</b>: BALB/c Mice were intraperitoneally and intranasally sensitized with allergenic extract precipitated on aluminum hydroxide. Therapy with CpG/Ag was performed intrana-sally. After antigenic challenge, a number of Immunologic variables such as serum IgE and IgG, systemic and local IL-10 and IFN-γ were studied in splenocytes, and lung tis-sue culture supernatants, respectively. <br/><b>Results</b>: Our study indicated that intranasal ad-ministration of CpG/Ag had significant increases in both systemic and local levels of IL-10 and IFN-γ (p≤ 0.001), but showed no significant effect on the levels of IgE, IgG2a, and IgG1 in serum (p= 0.06). This study demonstrated that CpG ODN has thera-peutic effects not only on splenocytes but also on nasal lymphocytes to produce IFN-γ as a Th1 cytokine, and IL-10 as a regulatory cytokine. <br/><b>Conclusion</b>: According to these data from the mouse model, we conclude that intranasal administration of CpG motifs before allergen exposure may be useful for the control of allergic asthma. Therefore, further investigations on humans using CpG motifs are recommended in order to modu-late the allergic effects of Chenopodium album as well as other regional allergens.