Protective effect of the DNA vaccine encoding the major house dust mite allergens on allergic inflammation in the murine model of house dust mite allergy.
BACKGROUND
Vaccination with naked DNA encoding antigen induces cellular and humoral immunity characterized by the activation of specific Th1 cells.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of vaccination with mixed naked DNA plasmids encoding Der p 1, Der p 2, Der p 3, Der f 1, Der f 2, and Der f 3, the major house dust mite allergens on the allergic inflammation to the whole house dust mites (HDM) crude extract.


METHODS
Three hundred micrograms of these gene mixtures were injected into muscle of BALB/c mice. Control mice were injected with the pcDNA 3.1 blank vector. After 3 weeks, the mice were actively sensitized and inhaled with the whole house dust mite extract intranasally.


RESULTS
The vaccinated mice showed a significantly decreased synthesis of total and HDM-specific IgE compared with controls. Analysis of the cytokine profile of lymphocytes after challenge with HDM crude extract revealed that mRNA expression of interferon-gamma was higher in the vaccinated mice than in the controls. Reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells and the prominent infiltration of CD8+ T cells were observed in histology of lung tissue from the vaccinated mice.


CONCLUSIONS
Vaccination with DNA encoding the major house dust mite allergens provides a promising approach for treating allergic responses to whole house dust mite allergens.
Kim
Nacksung
N
Medical Research Center for Gene Regulation, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea. nacksungkim@chonnam.ac.kr
Kwon
Soon Seog
SS
Lee
Jaechun
J
Kim
Sohyung
S
Yoo
Tai June
TJ