title: Protective immunity elicited by vaccination with DNA encoding for a B cell and a T cell epitope of the A/PR/8/34 influenza virus.
abstract: Numerous reports have demonstrated that immunization with plasmids bearing influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) or nucleoprotein (NP) genes elicits humoral and cellular protective responses. Herein we describe the generation of a plasmid (pVH-TB) encoding for a VH region of a self-Ig in which both the major B cell epitope HA150-159 and the immunodominant CD4 T cell epitope HA110-120 of HA of the A/PR/8/34 influenza virus were genetically inserted in the CDR2 and CDR3 loops, respectively. Our results demonstrate unequivocally that i.m. injection of pVH-TB plasmid in BALB/c mice elicited specific cellular and humoral immune responses able to protect against infection with lethal doses of A/PR/8/34 influenza virus.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casares
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Brumeanu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bot
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bona
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D014611:Vaccination; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines