Recently, Dr. Meng Chunchun from Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute (SHVRI) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and Dr. Zhi Xiao from the Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University explored a novel immune enhancement mechanism of Graphene Oxides with mice model. This finding has been published in the ACS nano and availableat: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.5b06750.

They decorated ultra-small graphene oxide with an antioxidant carnosine as a new immune adjuvant. Then prepared OVA@GO-Car using simply mixing ovalbumin (OVA, a model antigen) with ultra-small GO covalently modified with carnosine (GO-Car). Furthermore they investigated the immunological properties of the GO-Car in model mice in comparison with Go. Results show that OVA@GO-Car can promote robust and durable OVA specific antibody response, increase lymphocyte proliferation efficiency and enhance CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells activation. The presence of Car in GO also probably contributes to enhancing the antigen-specific adaptive immune response through modulating the innate immune level. In addition, the safety of GO-Car as an adjuvant was evaluated comprehensively. Besides, no toxic and side effect were observed. The study suggests that GO-Car as a new and safe adjuvant can effectively enhance humoral and innate immune responses against antigens in vivo.