6-C-Linked trehalose glycolipids signal through Mincle and exhibit potent adjuvant activity

Many studies have investigated the Mincle-mediated agonist activity of α,α'-trehalose-6,6́-glycolipids, however, none have considered how the position, or absence, of the ester moiety influences Mincle-mediated agonist activity. We prepared a variety of 6-C-linked α,α'-trehalose glycolipids containing inverted esters, ketone, carboxy or no carbonyl moieties. Modelling studies indicated that these derivatives bind to the CRD of Mincle in a manner similar to that of the prototypical Mincle agonist, trehalose dibehenate (TDB), with NFAT-GFP reporter cell assays confirming that all compounds, apart from derivatives with short alkyl chains, led to robust Mincle signalling. It was also observed that a carbonyl moiety was needed for good Mincle-mediated signalling. The ability of the compounds to induce mIL-1 β and mIL-6 production by bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) further demonstrated the agonist activity of the compounds, with the presence of a carbonyl moiety and longer lipid chains augmenting cytokine production. Notably, a C20 inverted ester led to levels of mIL-1β that were significantly greater than those induced by TDB. The same C20 inverted ester also led to a significant increase in hIL-1β and hIL-6 by human monocytes, and exhibited no toxicity, as demonstrated using BMDMs in an in vitro Sytox Green assay. The ability of the inverted ester to enhance antigen-mediated immune responses was then determined. In these studies, the inverted ester was found to augment the OVA-specific Th1/Th7 immune response in vitro, and exhibit adjuvanticity that was better than that of TDB in vivo, as evidenced by a significant increase in IgG antibodies for the inverted ester but not TDB when using OVA as a model antigen.