The Effective Immunization Of Plasmid Dna Vaccine Targeted For Smallpox Virus

Abstract Smallpox, caused by variola virus, could be a bio-terrorism agent although eradicated from the WHO program in the 1980s. DNA vaccine is a third generation vaccine system which contains DNA sequence with specific antigen codes that activates the immune system. DNA vaccines show great potential in inducing immune response with strong triggered-humoral, and cellular immunity. DNA vaccines have emerged as an attractive approach for infectious disease because of rapid manufacture, fast adaptation to newly emerging pathogens and high stability at ambient temperatures. However, since the potency of naked DNA vaccines is limited to immune efficacy, adjuvant incorporation could be a good option to increase the immune response. Several different compound-composed adjuvants are developed to help DNA vaccine efficacy. In other aspects, for inducing a more effective immune response, global vaccine manufacturer focused on targeting dendritic cell (DC) through the DC-specific surface protein, DEC-205. In this study, with plasmid construction modification, we developed a DNA vaccine vector that have effective antigen expression and confirmed immunogenicity against smallpox. For enhancing in vivo immune responses, we screened various adjuvant strategies and observed effective DNA vaccination response with various adjuvant studies and time-pointed reaction. Also, we tested the enhancement of immune response using DNA vaccine containing the smallpox antigen fused with DEC-205 and revealed a th1–th2 cellular immune response. Our results propose how to regulate modified-DNA immunization efficacy within DC targeting stimulation and adjuvant strategy against DNA vaccine development.