Recent Developments in Preclinical DNA Vaccination.
The advantages of genetic immunization of the new vaccine using plasmid DNAs are multifold. For example, it is easy to generate plasmid DNAs, increase their dose during the manufacturing process, and sterilize them. Furthermore, they can be stored for a long period of time upon stabilization, and their protein encoding sequences can be easily modified by employing various DNA-manipulation techniques. Although DNA vaccinations strongly increase Th1-mediated immune responses in animals, several problems persist. One is about their weak immunogenicity in humans. To overcome this problem, various genetic adjuvants, electroporation, and prime-boost methods have been developed preclinically, which are reviewed here.
Department of Molecular Biodefense Research, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 236-0004, Japan. kokuda@chojuken.net.|Choju Medical Institute, Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture 441-8124, Japan. kokuda@chojuken.net.|Vaccine Institute, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 2235-0045, Japan. kokuda@chojuken.net.
Kenji
K
Okuda
Vaccine Institute, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 2235-0045, Japan. yoshiyukiw@hotomail.com.
Yoshiyuki
Y
Wada
Department of Molecular Biodefense Research, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 236-0004, Japan. kqxin@yahoo.co.jp.
Masaru
M
Shimada
DNA vaccine; electroporation; genetic adjuvants