title: Vaccination with an ovalbumin/interleukin-4 fusion DNA efficiently induces Th2 cell-mediated immune responses in an ovalbumin-specific manner.
abstract: To more effectively drive immune responses toward antigen-specific T helper type 2 (Th2) cell-mediated responses, we constructed a mammalian expression vector (pOVA/IL4) carrying a fused gene in which the ovalbumin (OVA) cDNA was covalently linked to murine interleukin-4 (IL-4) cDNA. A biologically active OVA/IL4 protein was expressed by the transfected COS cells with the pOVA/IL4 DNA, as demonstrated by Western blotting and cytokine bioassay. Intramuscular injection of BALB/c mice with the pOVA/IL4 DNA increased both the production of OVA-specific IL-4 by CD4+ T cells and the ratio of anti-OVA IgG1 to anti-OVA IgG2a isotypes, while the injection with the pOVA DNA alone, or with the mixture of the pOVA and pIL4 DNA did no or little increase. Furthermore, the OVA-specific, Th2 cell-mediated immune responses were significantly enhanced by multiple injections with the pOVA/IL4 DNA. These studies indicate that the direct linkage of an OVA gene to an IL-4 gene in the expression plasmid confines the effects of IL-4 to the OVA-specific cells, efficiently driving the immune response toward OVA-specific, Th2 cell-mediated responses.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Institute of Biotechnology, Chonnam National University, Kwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: B Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004247:DNA / Q000276:immunology*; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology*; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D016207:Cytokines; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D015847:Interleukin-4; D010047:Ovalbumin; D004247:DNA