Herbal Adjuvant: DIP-HIP
The technology is a herbal adjuvant which is an agent that may stimulate the immune system and increase the response to a vaccine, without having any specific antigenic effect in itself. Adjuvant, have been used for decades as important agents for generation of strong immune response to vaccine antigens. Classically the adjuvants are determined by their ability to potentiate strong antibody response. However, besides generating strong immune response, they also act as immunomodulators by influencing the type and character of antibody generated. Therefore, the choice of adjuvant is of immense importance for the isotype and subclasses of IgGs, patterns of cytokine and recruitment of T cells. Currently, Freund's Adjuvants are predominantly used in raising antisera in animals, whereas for humans only Aluminium hydroxide (Alum) is in routine use. The lab has developed a new herbal adjuvant, called DIP-HIP, and compared its efficacy with complete Freund's Adjuvant and Alum. Animals were immunized with different antigens. The results indicated that antigens. The results indicated that antigen specific immunoglobulin levels were significantly enhanced by DIP-HIP. The cytokine profile also correlated very well with the Th1 and Th2 type of immune response generated on administration of DIP-HIP. Interestingly, using different strains and different species, DIP-HIP responded better than CFA. The sustenance of antibody response in the body was for about more than four months using DIP- HIP. Immunization through different routes like intraperitoneal and intramuscular did not show any significant difference nor caused any muscular damage, granulomatous reaction or dystrophy. The shelf life of DIP-HIP as such is for more than 3 years where as in the form of formulation with and antigen is about 4 months at 40 C. There is no haemolytic activity observed on treatment of both human and animal erythrocytes with DIP-HIP.