Open AccessDNA Vaccines.
Author(s) -
Yukio Koide,
Toshi Nagata,
Atsushi Yoshida,
Masato Uchijima
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
japanese journal of pharmacology/japanese journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1347-3506
pISSN - 0021-5198
DOI - 10.1254/jjp.83.167
Subject(s) - dna vaccination , immune system , vaccination , immunization , virology , biology , gene gun , cytotoxic t cell , gene , immunology , genetics , in vitro
DNA vaccination or genetic immunization is a rapidly developing technology that offers new approaches for the prevention and therapy of disease. Regarding the inoculation method of DNA vaccine, we recommend the gene gun delivery system, which is a highly reliable method compared to intramuscular inoculation. DNA vaccines could have potential advantages over other types of vaccines in that these vaccines can induce strong cellular immune responses, cytotoxic T lymphocytes and type 1 helper T cells, without resorting to live organisms or complicated protein formulation. The cellular immune responses are especially required for the protection against infections with intracellular pathogens such as viruses and Mycobacterium tuberculosis and protection against cancers, suggesting that they seem to be suitable targets of DNA vaccines. We describe here that their application to bacterial infections requires optimization of codon usage in the DNA vaccines to the host animal to improve translational efficiencies of the bacteria genes. DNA vaccines for a variety of pathogens and cancers have now entered phase I/II human clinical trials.