title: Construction and expression of a recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid containing thepreS1-preS2-Sgenes of hepatitis B virus and thegranulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factorgene: A study of its immunomodulatory effects.
abstract: A total of 10-20% of the population remains unresponsive or weakly responsive to hepatitis B vaccine, which is composed of hepatitis B surface antigen HBsAg (S protein). Therefore, it is necessary to develop a hepatitis B vaccine with a better penetrating and responsive rate. In the present study, a plasmid pVAX1-L-GM was constructed and its immunomodulatory effect of as hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA vaccine was analyzed through the immunization of BALB/c mice. Immune responses were measured after immunization by anti-HBsAg, proliferation of splenocytes, the number of CD4+and CD8+molecules, CTL cytotoxicity, cytokines of IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion assays. Following the immunization, mice in the pVAX1-L-GM group produced antibody 2 weeks earlier compared to the control plasmid pVAX1 and pVAX1HBsAg groups and antibody levels showed significant differences. Enhanced HBsAg-specific splenocyte proliferation as well as specific cytotoxic activities of splenic CTLs were also detected. Furthermore, pVAX1-L-GM plasmid increased the number of CD4+and CD8+molecules on the surface of the spleen T cell and the level of IFN-γ, IL-2 secretion. pVAX1-L-GM induced a specific immune response in mice and enhanced the immune effect. Thus, a foundation was laid for developing immunogenicity of a better prevention and treatment of HBV via a hepatitis B vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun-Yuan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tian-Hong
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun-Wu
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor; hepatitis B virus; large envelope protein; preS1-; preS2/S gene