title: Biosafety of DNA vaccines: New generation of DNA vectors and current knowledge on the fate of plasmids after injection.
abstract: DNA vaccination has been widely studied to develop new, alternative, efficient and safe vaccines for humans and animals. Many efforts have been made to increase the immunising potential of these vaccines and three veterinary vaccines are now available on the market. Much work is also being dedicated to develop effective DNA vaccines for humans. However, this new vaccination technique raises issues concerning biosafety due to the nature of the vector, i.e. a DNA molecule that contains sequences of prokaryotic origin (e.g. genes for antibiotic resistance). This review describes the development of the new generation of DNA vectors that are partially or completely devoid of elements of prokaryotic origin and outlines the results of studies on the fate of plasmids after their injection in vivo.
authors.affiliation: French Food Safety Agency (Afssa), Viral Genetics and Biosafety Unit, Fr-22440, Ploufragan, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Faurez
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dory
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Le Moigne
authors.forename: Rodolphe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gravier
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jestin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012306:Risk; D012449:Safety; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019444:Vaccines, DNA