[Study on combined immunization of rAd/MDC-VP1 and pcDNA3/MDC-VP1 against Coxsackievirus B3 challenge in mice].

Aim: To immunize the mice using the rAd/MDC-VP1 prime-pcDNA3/MDC-VP1 boost strategy and observe its immunological effect against Coxsackievirus B3(CVB3).

Methods: BALB/c mice were randomly divided into four groups: PBS group, rAd/MDC-VP1 group, pcDNA3/MDC-VP1 group and rAd/MDC-VP1 prime-pcDNA3/MDC-VP1 boost group. Mice in each group were immunized intramuscularly.

Immunogenicity of a lentiviral-based DNA vaccine driven by the 5'LTR of the naturally attenuated caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) in mice and macaques.

Increasing the safety and the efficacy of existing HIV vaccines is one of the strategies that could help to promote the development of a vaccine for human use. We developed a HIV DNA vaccine (Δ4-SHIVKU2) that has been shown to induce potent polyfunctional HIV-specific T cell responses following a single dose immunization of mice and macaques. Δ4-SHIVKU2 also induced protection when immunized macaques were challenged with homologous pathogenic viruses.

Generation of protective immune responses against coxsackievirus B3 challenge by DNA prime-protein boost vaccination.

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) causes viral myocarditis and can ultimately result in dilated cardiomyopathy. However, there is no vaccine available for clinical use. In this study, we assessed the protection provided by three immunization strategies against CVB3 infection.

[Construction of the recombinant adenovirus expressing the CVB3 sVP1-C3d3 protein and study on its immunological effects in mice].

Aim: To construct recombinant adenovirus Ad/C3d3-sVP1 and investigate the immune effects against coxsackievirus infection in mouse.

Methods: The recombinant adenovirus Ad/sVP1-C3d3 was constructed and packaged. BALB/c mouse were divided into four groups: Ad/sVP1-C3d3 group, Ad/VP1 group, Ad group and PBS group.

[Immune effects of four coxsackievirus B3 VP1 DNA fusion vaccines in mice].

Aim: To compare the immunogenicity and protective effects on CVB3 infected mice of four DNA fusion vaccines coupling coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) VP1 with macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC), C3d3, shiga toxin B subuit (STxB) and mouse beta-defensin-2 (mBD2), respectively.

Methods: BALB/c mice were divided into 6 groups randomly and inoculated in quadriceps at 3-week interval for 3 times with pcDNA3, pcDNA3/VP1, pcDNA3/MDC-VP1, pcDNA3/VP1-C3d3, pcDNA3/STxB-VP1 and pcDNA3/mBD2 -VP1, respectively. Fourteen days after every inoculation, serum samples were collected and CVB3 specific neutralizing antibodies were determined.

Nef modulates the immunogenicity of Gag encoded in a non-infectious HIV DNA vaccine.

Gag-CD8+ T cell responses are associated with immune control of HIV infection. Since during HIV infection Nef impairs T cell responses, we evaluated whether deletion of nef from a non-infectious HIV DNA vaccine (Delta4 Nef+), creating Delta5 Nef(-), would affect its immunogenicity. When compared with Delta4, mice injected with Delta5 developed significantly lower CD8+ T cell responses to Gag, but no significant change in the responses to Env was observed.

Complete genomes of three subtype 6t isolates and analysis of many novel hepatitis C virus variants within genotype 6.

In this study, the complete genomic sequence was determined for three hepatitis C virus variants (VT21, TV241 and TV249) of genotype 6 that do not classify within the established subtypes. All three genomes were isolated from patients in Vietnam and sequenced using 100 microl of serum. They showed 91.

Activation/proliferation and apoptosis of bystander goat lymphocytes induced by a macrophage-tropic chimeric caprine arthritis encephalitis virus expressing SIV Nef.

Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) is the natural lentivirus of goats, well known for its tropism for macrophages and its inability to cause infection in lymphocytes. The viral genome lacks nef, tat, vpu and vpx coding sequences. To test the hypothesis that when nef is expressed by the viral genome, the virus became toxic for lymphocytes during replication in macrophages, we inserted the SIVsmm PBj14 nef coding sequences into the genome of CAEV thereby generating CAEV-nef.

Phenotypic and functional analysis of immune CD8+ T cell responses induced by a single injection of a HIV DNA vaccine in mice.

HIV DNA vaccines are potent inducers of cell-mediated immune (CMI) response in mice but elicit poor HIV-specific IFN-gamma-producing T cells in monkeys and humans. In this study, we performed kinetic analyses on splenocytes of BALB/c mice that were immunized by a single injection with a unique DNA vaccine. Using IFN-gamma-ELISPOT and multiparametric FACS analysis, we characterized the induced CMI response.