title: Protective mechanisms induced by a Japanese encephalitis virus DNA vaccine: requirement for antibody but not CD8(+) cytotoxic T-cell responses.
abstract: We have previously shown that a plasmid (pE) encoding the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) envelope (E) protein conferred a high level of protection against a lethal viral challenge. In the present study, we used adoptive transfer experiments and gene knockout mice to demonstrate that the DNA-induced E-specific antibody alone can confer protection in the absence of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) functions. Plasmid pE administered by either intramuscular or gene gun injection produced significant E-specific antibodies, helper T (Th)-cell proliferative responses, and CTL activities. Animals receiving suboptimal DNA vaccination produced low titers of anti-E antibodies and were only partially or not protected from viral challenge, indicating a strong correlation between anti-E antibodies and the protective capacity. This observation was confirmed by adoptive transfer experiments. Intravenous transfer of E-specific antisera but not crude or T-cell-enriched immune splenocytes to sublethally irradiated hosts conferred protection against a lethal JEV challenge. Furthermore, experiments with gene knockout mice showed that DNA vaccination did not induce anti-E titers and protective immunity in Igmu(-/-) and I-Abeta(-/-) mice, whereas in CD8alpha(-/-) mice the pE-induced antibody titers and protective rate were comparable to those produced in the wild-type mice. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the anti-E antibody is the most critical protective component in this JEV challenge model and that production of anti-E antibody by pE DNA vaccine is dependent on the presence of CD4(+) T cells but independent of CD8(+) T cells.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000276:immunology*; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D019444:Vaccines, DNA