Highly selective Th2 and Th17 cytokine induction of nitrated lipid-modified ɑ-GalCer derivatives with their “anchoring effect” in the recognition of CD1d for NKT cell activation

On antigen-presenting cells, CD1d presents the glycolipids antigens to the TCRs of NKT cells, leading to immune responses via cytokine induction. Although various lipid antigens have been found, there are only limited numbers of glycolipid antigens having highly selective cytokine induction (Th2 and Th17 type) with very high binding affinity to CD1d. In this research, we discovered the glycolipids that express highly selective Th2 and Th17 type cytokine induction, with introducing natural nitro-modified fatty acyl groups to the ceramide moiety for the “anchoring effect” of polar functional groups at the CD1d binding site.