Molecular mechanism of immune response induced by foreign plasmid DNA after oral administration in mice.
OBJECTIVE
To study immune response induced by foreign plasmid DNA after oral administration in mice.


METHODS
Mice were orally administered with 200 mug of plasmid pcDNA3 once and spleen was isolated 4 h and 18 h after administration. Total RNA was extracted from spleen and gene expression profile of BALB/c mice spleen was analyzed by using Affymetrix oligonucleotide GeneChip. Functional cluster analysis was conducted by GenMAPP software.


RESULTS
At 4 h and 18 h after oral plasmid pcDNA3 administration, a number of immune-related genes, including cytokine and cytokine receptors, chemokines and chemokine receptor, complement molecule, proteasome, histocompatibility molecule, lymphocyte antigen complex and apoptotic genes, were up-regulated. Moreover, MAPPFinder results also showed that numerous immune response processes were up-regulated. In contrast, the immunoglobulin genes were down-regulated.


CONCLUSIONS
Foreign plasmid DNA can modulate the genes expression related to immune system via the gastrointestinal tract, and further analysis of the related immune process may help understand the molecular mechanisms of immune response induced by foreign plasmid via the gastrointestinal tract.
Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Beijing 100011, China. ljw_ftpt@yahoo.com.cn
Jian-Wen
JW
Liu
Jun
J
Cheng
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D004270:DNA, Circular / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010957:Plasmids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
D004270:DNA, Circular