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Review
. 2011 Aug 1;53(3):296-302.
doi: 10.1093/cid/cir334.

Clinical applications of DNA vaccines: current progress

Bernadette Ferraro  1 , Matthew P Morrow, Natalie A Hutnick, Thomas H Shin, Colleen E Lucke, David B Weiner
Affiliations
Review

Clinical applications of DNA vaccines: current progress

Bernadette Ferraro et al. Clin Infect Dis. .

Abstract

It was discovered almost 20 years ago that plasmid DNA, when injected into the skin or muscle of mice, could induce immune responses to encoded antigens. Since that time, there has since been much progress in understanding the basic biology behind this deceptively simple vaccine platform and much technological advancement to enhance immune potency. Among these advancements are improved formulations and improved physical methods of delivery, which increase the uptake of vaccine plasmids by cells; optimization of vaccine vectors and encoded antigens; and the development of novel formulations and adjuvants to augment and direct the host immune response. The ability of the current, or second-generation, DNA vaccines to induce more-potent cellular and humoral responses opens up this platform to be examined in both preventative and therapeutic arenas. This review focuses on these advances and discusses both preventive and immunotherapeutic clinical applications.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
DNA vaccine delivery with electroporation (EP) increases cellular and humoral responses. A DNA vaccine encoding human prostate–specific antigen (PSA) was administered by intramuscular injection (IM) or by IM plus EP (IM+EP). Animals received 2 vaccinations spaced 2 weeks apart. Cellular and humoral responses were determined 1 week after the second immunization. PSA-specific T-cell responses were determined by interferon (IFN) gamma enzyme-linked immunospot (A) and PSA-specific seroconversion by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B). n = 5 per group. OD, optical density; SFC, antigen-specific spot forming cells per 106.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Current DNA vaccine clinical trials. At the time of publication, 43 clinical trials evaluating DNA vaccines were listed as on-going in the clinicaltrials.gov database. The large pie chart shows the percentage of trials by vaccine target. The inset pie chart shows the percentage of trials targeting specific cancers among the 29% of clinical trials that are cancer related. HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HPV, human papillomavirus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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