Adjuvant activity of saponins from Kazakhstani plants on the immune responses to subunit influenza vaccine.

In recent years, there have been a number of reports on the successful use of immunostimulatory complexes with saponins and viral glycoproteins as veterinary vaccines and in clinical trials for human medicine. The saponins Algiox, Sapanox and Pangisan were isolated and purified by HPLC from Allochrusa gypsophiloides, Saponaria officinalis and Gypsophila paniculata plants in Kazakhstan and they proved to have low toxicity in experiments with mice, chickens and chicken embryos. Algiox, Sapanox and Pangisan can be used to create immunostimulatory complexes (ISCOMs) similar to saponin-Quil-A-containing ISCOMs both in structure and in immunostimulatory efficiency. The adjuvant effect of the obtained saponins was studied by subcutaneous injection of mice with ISCOMs containing these herbal saponins and lipids and glycoproteins of H7N1 influenza virus. Sapanox, Pangisan and Algiox from Kazakhstani plants of the family Caryophyllaceae could be considered an additional source of highly effective adjuvants not only for veterinary vaccines but also for human medicine.