title: Development of anthrax DNA vaccines.
abstract: Over 120 years ago, Pasteur and Greenfield developed an in vitro procedure for producing a live-attenuated Bacillus anthracis bacterial culture capable of protecting livestock from anthrax disease. Since then, anthrax has become one of the best characterized bacterial pathogens with regard to mechanism of toxicity and vaccine development. Most developments have used live-attenuated strains, bacterial supernatants or protein subunit approaches. Recently, novel plasmid DNA (pDNA) approaches to a safe and effective anthrax vaccine have been proposed. This review summarizes the history of anthrax, the need for new vaccines and recent developments in pDNA-based vaccines, leading to the initiation of a human phase I clinical trial in a significantly shorter timeframe than in traditional vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Vical Inc, 10390 Pacific Center Court, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
authors.forename: Marilyn E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hermanson
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rolland
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000881:Anthrax / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022122:Anthrax Vaccines / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D022122:Anthrax Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA