We report a supramolecular hydrogel based on dihistidine containing pentapeptides serving as a novel vaccine delivery system. Protein encapsulated into the hydrogel not only enhances the mechanical property up to 15-fold but also changes the conformation of the resulting nanostructure from a β-sheet to an α-helix. The resulting hybrid hydrogel enhances antigen uptake and moderately promotes dendritic cell (DC) maturation in vitro. More importantly, the pentapeptide hydrogel promotes antigen-specific antibody production in vivo and splenocyte proliferation ex vivo.

中文翻译：

---

蛋白质使基于五肽的水凝胶构象转变并增强体内免疫反应

我们报道了基于二组氨酸的五肽超分子水凝胶，用作新型疫苗输送系统。包封在水凝胶中的蛋白质不仅可以将机械性能提高多达15倍，而且可以将所得纳米结构的构象从β-折叠层转变为α-螺旋。所得的杂化水凝胶增强了抗原的摄取，并适度地促进了树突状细胞（DC）在体外的成熟。更重要的是，五肽水凝胶促进体内抗原特异性抗体的产生和离体脾细胞的增殖。