Publications by authors named "Lingqiang Gao"

This study describes the design and synthesis of five TF-based cancer vaccine candidates using a lipid A mimetic as the carrier and a built-in adjuvant. All synthesized conjugates elicited robust and consistent TF-specific immune responses in mice without external adjuvants. Immunological studies subsequently conducted in wild-type and TLR4 knockout C57BL/6 mice demonstrated that the activation of TLR4 was the main reason that the synthesized lipid A mimetics increased the TF-specific immune responses.

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We present a new strategy for self-adjuvanting vaccine development that has different types of covalently-linked immunostimulants as the carrier molecule. Using Tn antigen as the model, a three-component vaccine (MPLA-Tn-KRN7000) containing the TLR4 ligand MPLA and the iNKT cell agonist KRN7000 was designed and synthesized. This expands fully synthetic self-adjuvanting vaccine studies that use a single carrier to one with two different types of carriers.

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A new strategy based on a macrophage-inducible C-type lectin (Mincle) agonist was established to construct synthetic cancer vaccines. Using sialyl-Tn (STn) as a model antigen, four conjugates with the Mincle agonist as a built-in adjuvant were designed and synthesized through a facile and efficient method. All conjugates could induce BMDMs to produce inflammatory cytokines in a Mincle-dependent manner and were found to elicit robust humoral and T cell-dependent immune responses alone in mice.

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Exposure to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) might induce lipid droplet (LD) biogenesis, but the roles of physicochemical properties of MWCNTs, as well as the mechanisms, remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated lipid laden foam formation in THP-1 macrophages exposed to MWCNTs of different diameters, and attempted transcriptomic analysis to study the possible mechanisms. We observed diameter-dependent cytotoxicity, lipid accumulation and intracellular reactive oxygen species production that were more pronounced for MWCNTs with smaller diameters compared with those with larger diameters.

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