DNA vaccines whose DNA encodes a variety of antigens from Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been evaluated for immunogenicity and protective efficacy. CD8(+) T-cell responses and protection achieved in other infectious disease models have been optimized by using a DNA immunization to prime the immune system and a recombinant virus encoding the same antigen(s) to boost the response. A DNA vaccine ...

Background: There is a growing interest in development of an effective adjuvant system for improving DNA vaccines. Recent findings have confirmed an important role for autophagy in both innate and adaptive immunity. The current study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of autophagy induction with Beclin-1, as a novel adjuvant system, in mice immunized with human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA v...

Growing evidence shows that antioxidant proteins of Leishmania could be used as vaccine candidates. In this study, we report the efficacy of Leishmania donovani iron superoxide dismutase B1 (LdFeSODB1) as a vaccine antigen in BALB/c mice in a DNA-protein prime-boost immunization regimen in the presence or absence of murine granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (mGMCSF) DNA adjuvant. ...

Infection of mice with Mycobacterium avium or immunization with a novel PE gene expressed by M. avium (MaPE) showed that a dominant T-cell immune response was elicited. Immunization with an MaPE DNA vaccine protected mice against an aerosol challenge with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, suggesting that mycobacteria express PE antigens with cross-protective T-cell epitopes.

The evolution of the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) has resulted in high sequence variations and diverse antigenic properties in circulating viral isolates. We investigated immune responses induced by HA DNA vaccines of two contemporary H5N1 HPAIV isolates, A/bar-headed goose/Qinghai/3/2005 (QH) and A/chicken/Shanxi/2/2006 (SX) respectively, against the homologous as well ...

A vaccine strategy directed to increase Th1 cellular immune responses, particularly to hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3), has considerable potential to overcome the infection with HCV. DNA vaccination can induce both humoral and cellular immune responses, but it became apparent that the cellular uptake of naked DNA injected into muscle was not very efficient, as much of the ...

DNA plasmids encoding foreign proteins may be used as immunogens by direct intramuscular injection alone, or with various adjuvants and excipients, or by delivery of DNA-coated gold particles to the epidermis through biolistic immunization. Antibody, helper T lymphocyte, and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses have been induced in laboratory and domesticated animals by these methods. In a nu...

Vaccines encoding xenoantigens, "non-self" proteins that are highly homologous to their autologous counterparts, have been investigated as a means to increase immunogenicity and overcome tolerance to "self" antigens. We have previously shown that DNA vaccines encoding native prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) were able to elicit PAP-specific T cells in both rats and humans, but required multiple ...

BACKGROUND To date, no universally effective and safe vaccine has been developed for general human use. Leishmania donovani Peroxidoxin-1 (LdPxn-1) is a member of the antioxidant family of proteins and is predominantly expressed in the amastigote stage of the parasite. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of LdPxn-1 in BALB/c mice in heterologous DNA-...

Sequential immunization with mycobacterial antigen Ag85B-expressing DNA and Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) was more effective than BCG immunization in protecting against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Depletion of the CD8(+) T cells in the immunized mice impaired protection in their spleens, indicating that this improved efficacy was partially mediated by CD8(+) T cells.