title: Immunization of mice with plasmid DNA expressing the measles virus nucleoprotein gene.
abstract: The measles virus (MV) nucleocapsid (N) protein gene has been inserted into a plasmid vector so as to place the gene under the control of the strong constitutive human cytomegalovirus major immediate early promoter. On intramuscular injection of pMV64 DNA into C3H/He mice, seroconversion with increasing titers of N-specific serum IgG antibodies was observed over a period of 3 months. However, when 3-week-old mice were immunized by intramuscular injection of pMV64 in a two-dose schedule, and challenged intracranially with a rodent-adapted measles virus strain (CAM/RB) at 5 weeks of age, no significant protective response was seen. The lack of effective protection evoked by DNA immunization in this model, where MV challenge must take place before 8 weeks of age, may be due to inefficient induction of cell-mediated immunity resulting from expression in muscle tissue, compounded by a relatively slow rise in immune response compared with that seen with the recombinant adenovirus.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Salisbury, U.K.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fooks
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jeevarajah
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Warnes
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Clegg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008457:Measles / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008458:Measles Vaccine; D008459:Measles virus / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D008458:Measles Vaccine; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins; C058314:nucleoprotein, Measles virus