DNA vaccine

Abstract

The study of DNA vaccine has been started after the initial report showing that plasmids encoding a reporter gene are able to induce in vivo expression of the encoded protein. While some of DNA vaccines have already been tested in clinical trials, a lot of new methods and technologies to augment the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines are under evaluation in preclinical studies. We examined two approaches incorporating helper antigens or co-stimulatory molecules in CTL antigen and showed the enhancement of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cell induction and in vivo tumor rejection capacity. These data and the recent approaches may provide us an important hint for establishing new therapeutic vaccines.