Mice and 3-day-old chickens were orally inoculated with the recombinant attenuated Salmonella typhimurium strain ZJ111 carrying pcDNA3-F expression plasmid encoding the fusion protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The results showed that ZJ111/pcDNA3-F was relatively safe. The recombinant plasmid pcDNA3-F was stable within the host stain ZJ111 in vitro and in vivo as shown by restriction enzyme analysis and PCR identification of the F gene. In an experimental vaccination study, 3-day-old chickens were orally immunized with ZJ111/pcDNA3-F with a dose of 108 cfu per chicken and boosted two weeks later. At week 4 post boosting, all chickens were challenged with a lethal dose of a virulent NDV strain F48 E9. The results showed that oral vaccination with ZJ111/pcDNA3-F induced stronger humoral and cellular immune responses than intramuscular immunization with naked pcDNA3-F plasmid. It also exhibited higher protection rate than the latter (66.7% vs 50%). This study indicates that the DNA vaccine using attenuated Salmonella typhimurium as delivery carrier had good safety, stability and immunogenicity and exhibited good potential of low cost and convenience for poultry disease control.
Animals ; Chickens ; Immunity, Cellular ; immunology ; Immunity, Humoral ; immunology ; Mice ; Newcastle Disease ; immunology ; virology ; Plasmids ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Salmonella typhimurium ; genetics ; metabolism ; Vaccines, DNA ; adverse effects ; genetics ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo construct and compare the immunogenicities of DNA vaccines expressing pol genes derived from B`/C and A/E recombinant subtypes of HIV-1 in China.

METHODSTwo DNA vaccines were constructed by inserting the codon optimized pol genes derived from B'/C and A/E subtypes of HIV-1 into mammalian expression vector pSV1.0. In vitro expression efficiencies of the two DNA vaccines were determined by Western blotting and their immunogenicities were compared by i.m. immunizing female BALB/c mice. After immunization, mice splenocytes were isolated sterilely and IFN-γ based enzyme linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) was employed to read out the specific T cell immunity.

RESULTSThe constructed DNA vaccines were validated by restriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing. Western blotting result showed both of the two DNA vaccines could be expressed at appreciable levels in vitro. Under the stimulation of Consensus B Pol peptide pools, specific T cell frequency elicited by pSVAE-Pol was (636±178) SFCs/10(6) splenocytes; specific T cell frequency elicited by pSVCN-Pol was (468±265)SFCs/10(6) splenocytes (P=0.412). Under the stimulation of HIV-1 AE2f Pol peptide pools, specific T cell frequency elicited by pSVAE-Pol was (1378±611) SFCs/10(6) splenocytes; specific T cell frequency elicited by pSVCN-Pol was (713±61) SFCs/10(6) splenocytes (P=0.134). Further analysis suggested pSVAE-Pol induced specific T cell responses mainly focused on Pol 1 peptide pool, while, in addition to induce Pol 1 specific T cell responses, pSVCN-Pol could also elicit T cell responses against consensus B Pol 2 peptide pool.

CONCLUSIONAlthough pSVAE-Pol was more immunogenic, pSVCN-Pol could induce T cell responses against broader epitope spectrum. Rational vaccine design may need combine them together.

AIDS Vaccines ; genetics ; immunology ; Animals ; Female ; Genes, pol ; immunology ; HIV-1 ; genetics ; immunology ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunization ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Vaccines, DNA ; genetics ; immunology

PURPOSE: The third variable (V3) loop of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein has been intensively studied for AIDS vaccine development. Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is widely used to immunize against tuberculosis and has many advantages as a vaccine vehicle, such as low toxicity, adjuvant potential, low cost, and long-lasting immune-inducing capacity. This work was initiated to investigate the immunogenicity of recombinant BCG (rBCG-mV3) designed to express trimeric HIV-1 V3 loop (mV3) in rBCG-mV3-immunized animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HIV-1 V3-concatamer was cloned into pMV261, a BCG-expression vector, and then rBCG-mV3 was constructed by introducing the recombinant plasmid (pMV-V3). The recombinant BCG was examined with regard to its expression of V3-concatamer and the genetic stability in vivo and in vitro. The immune responses induced by recombinant BCG were tested in immunized mice and guinea pigs. RESULTS: The rBCG-mV3 expressed detectable amounts of V3-concatamer when induced by single heat-shock. The recombinant BCG was genetically stable and maintained the introduced mV3 gene for several weeks. V3-specific antibodies were clearly detected 6 weeks after inoculation. The antibody titer rapidly increased after immunization up to 10 weeks, and then maintained for over 4 weeks. IgG2a was prevalent in the V3-specific antiserum. The recombinant BCG was also effective in inducing delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in the immunized guinea pigs. rBCG-immunized mice retained substantial amounts of V3-specific T cells in the spleen, even 5 months after the first immunization. CONCLUSION: Recombinant BCG-mV3 is very efficient in inducing humoral and long-lasting cell-mediated immunity against HIV-1 V3 in the immunized animals.
AIDS Vaccines/genetics/*immunology ; Animals ; BCG Vaccine/genetics/*immunology ; Female ; Guinea Pigs ; HIV-1/*immunology ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular/genetics/*immunology ; Immunity, Humoral/genetics/*immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/genetics/*immunology

PURPOSE: The third variable (V3) loop of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein has been intensively studied for AIDS vaccine development. Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is widely used to immunize against tuberculosis and has many advantages as a vaccine vehicle, such as low toxicity, adjuvant potential, low cost, and long-lasting immune-inducing capacity. This work was initiated to investigate the immunogenicity of recombinant BCG (rBCG-mV3) designed to express trimeric HIV-1 V3 loop (mV3) in rBCG-mV3-immunized animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HIV-1 V3-concatamer was cloned into pMV261, a BCG-expression vector, and then rBCG-mV3 was constructed by introducing the recombinant plasmid (pMV-V3). The recombinant BCG was examined with regard to its expression of V3-concatamer and the genetic stability in vivo and in vitro. The immune responses induced by recombinant BCG were tested in immunized mice and guinea pigs. RESULTS: The rBCG-mV3 expressed detectable amounts of V3-concatamer when induced by single heat-shock. The recombinant BCG was genetically stable and maintained the introduced mV3 gene for several weeks. V3-specific antibodies were clearly detected 6 weeks after inoculation. The antibody titer rapidly increased after immunization up to 10 weeks, and then maintained for over 4 weeks. IgG2a was prevalent in the V3-specific antiserum. The recombinant BCG was also effective in inducing delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in the immunized guinea pigs. rBCG-immunized mice retained substantial amounts of V3-specific T cells in the spleen, even 5 months after the first immunization. CONCLUSION: Recombinant BCG-mV3 is very efficient in inducing humoral and long-lasting cell-mediated immunity against HIV-1 V3 in the immunized animals.
AIDS Vaccines/genetics/*immunology ; Animals ; BCG Vaccine/genetics/*immunology ; Female ; Guinea Pigs ; HIV-1/*immunology ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular/genetics/*immunology ; Immunity, Humoral/genetics/*immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/genetics/*immunology

OBJECTIVETo observe the specific cellular and humoral immune responses after immunization with recombinant adenovirus Ad5F35-LMP2 in rhesus monkeys.

METHODSSixteen rhesuses were immunized with Ad5F35-LMP2 through intra-muscular injection in three groups: high dosage group (1.5 x 10(10) TCID(50)/rhesus), medium dosage group (1.5 x 10(9)TCID(50)/rhesus), low dosage group (1.5 x 10(8)TCID50/rhesus) and the last group was control (PBS 4 ml/rhesus). They were totally immunized three times at intervals of one month. The EBV-LMP2 specific cellular immune responses were tested during the 0, 4, 8, 12 weeks by Elispot after immunization respectively. And the titers of anti-LMP2 antibody were tested by EIA at the same time.

RESULTSEBV-LMP2 specific cellular and humoral immune responses which were induced by recombinant adenovirus Ad5F35-LMP2 can be found in all the three dosage groups. The potency of immune responses was related with the dosage of immunization. Higher dosage elicited more potent immune response.

CONCLUSIONThe recombinant adenovirus Ad5F35-LMP2 could elicit LMP2 specific cellular and humoral immune responses in rhesus.

Adenoviruses, Human ; genetics ; Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; genetics ; Immunity, Cellular ; immunology ; Immunization ; methods ; Macaca mulatta ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Matrix Proteins ; genetics ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo clone PIB gene of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and to construct a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pCI-PIB and to understand the effects of pCI-PIB vaccination in mice to induce specific humoral and cellular immune responses.

METHODSThe entire PIB gene of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (960 bp) was amplified by using PCR. An eukaryotic eukaryotic vector pCI-PIB was then constructed. BALB/c mice (n = 65, 100 microg/time/mouse) were immunized with pCI-PIB by intramuscular injection. ABC assay was employed to examine the PIB expression in muscular cells of the pCI-PIB-immunized mice (n = 10). ELISA and MTT assays were used to measure the effects of humoral and cellular immune responses of the remaining pCI-PIB-immunized mice. By using slide agglutination test and complement bacteriolytic test, the serum anti-bacterial activity of the pCI-PIB immunized mice was determined.

RESULTSThe entire PIB gene amplification fragment of the expected size (960 bp) was successfully obtained by PCR. In comparison with the reported PIB gene sequence (GenBank No: AF090801), the homology of nucleotide sequence of the target inserted fragment in the recombinant plasmid pCI-PIB was as high as 99.28%. The muscular cells of the immunized mice could take in pCI-PIB and then express PIB. In the pCI-PIB immunized mice, the higher titer (1:4000) of specific serum IgG and the specific T lymphocyte response were found. The proliferation index (4.031) was significantly higher than that of the controls (1.127) (t = 71.71, P < 0.05). The sera and washings from the pCI-PIB immunized mice could agglutinate Neisseria gonorrhoeae and kill this microbe in presence of complements.

CONCLUSIONIn this study we successfully constructed a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pCI-PIB. The mice inoculated with pCI-PIB might efficiently produce the specific humoral and cellular immune responses, suggesting that pCI-PIB should be potential service as a candidate of Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA vaccines.

Animals ; Antibody Formation ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; DNA, Recombinant ; immunology ; Female ; Immunity, Cellular ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Neisseria gonorrhoeae ; genetics ; immunology ; Plasmids ; Vaccines, DNA ; immunology

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus ; chemistry ; genetics ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunity, Humoral ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; immunology ; Influenza, Human ; epidemiology ; immunology ; Pandemics ; Time Factors

Hepatitis B virus core protein can self-assemble into icosahedral symmetrical viral-like particles (VLPs) in vitro, and display exogenous sequences repeatedly and densely on the surface. VLPs also have strong immunogenicity and biological activity. When the nanoparticles enter the body, they quickly induce specific humoral and cellular immune responses to exogenous antigens. In this study, we designed an HBc-VLPs that can be coupled with antigens at specific sites, and developed a set of efficient methods to prepare HBc-VLPs. Through site-specific mutation technology, the 80th amino acid of peptide was changed from Ala to Cys, a specific cross-linking site was inserted into the main immunodominant region of HBc-VLPs, and the prokaryotic expression vector pET28a(+)-hbc was constructed. After expression and purification, high purity HBc(A80C) monomer protein was assembled into HBc-VLPs nanoparticles in Phosphate Buffer. The results of particle size analysis show that the average particle size of nanoparticles was 29.8 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that HBc-VLPs formed spherical particles with a particle size of about 30 nm, and its morphology was similar to that of natural HBV particles. The influenza virus antigen M2e peptide as model antigen was connected to Cys residue of HBc-VLPs by Sulfo-SMCC, an amino sulfhydryl bifunctional cross-linking agent, and M2e-HBc-VLPs model vaccine was prepared. The integrity of HBc-VLPs structure and the correct cross-linking of M2e were verified by cell fluorescence tracing. Animal immune experiments showed that the vaccine can effectively stimulate the production of antigen-specific IgG antibody in mice, which verified the effectiveness of the vaccine carrier HBc-VLPs. This study lays a foundation for the research of HBc-VLPs as vaccine vector, and help to promote the development of HBc-VLPs vaccine and the application of HBc-VLPs in other fields.
Animals ; Hepatitis B Core Antigens ; genetics ; immunology ; Immunity, Cellular ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle ; genetics ; immunology

The generation of T cells with maximal anti-tumor activities will significantly impact the field of T-cell-based adoptive immunotherapy. In this report, we found that OKT3/IL-2-stimulated T cells were phenotypically more heterogeneous, with enhanced anti-tumor activity in vitro and when locally administered in a solid tumor mouse model. To further improve the OKT3/IL-2-based T cell manufacturing procedure, we developed a novel T cell stimulation and expansion method in which peripheral blood mononuclear cells were electroporated with mRNA encoding a chimeric membrane protein consisting of a single-chain variable fragment against CD3 and the intracellular domains of CD28 and 4-1BB (OKT3-28BB). The expanded T cells were phenotypically and functionally similar to T cells expanded by OKT3/IL-2. Moreover, co-electroporation of CD86 and 4-1BBL could further change the phenotype and enhance the in vivo anti-tumor activity. Although T cells expanded by the co-electroporation of OKT3-28BB with CD86 and 4-1BBL showed an increased central memory phenotype, the T cells still maintained tumor lytic activities as potent as those of OKT3/IL-2 or OKT3-28BB-stimulated T cells. In different tumor mouse models, T cells expanded by OKT3-28BB RNA electroporation showed anti-tumor activities superior to those of OKT3/IL-2 T cells. Hence, T cells with both a less differentiated phenotype and potent tumor killing ability can be generated by RNA electroporation, and this T cell manufacturing procedure can be further optimized by simply co-delivering other splices of RNA, thus providing a simple and cost-effective method for generating high-quality T cells for adoptive immunotherapy.
Animals ; CD28 Antigens ; genetics ; immunology ; Electroporation ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Interleukin-2 ; immunology ; K562 Cells ; Mice ; Muromonab-CD3 ; immunology ; Neoplasms, Experimental ; genetics ; immunology ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 9 ; genetics ; immunology

The aim of this study is to develop the recombinant adenovirus vaccine (rAdV) candidates containing neuraminidase (NA) gene of H5N1 influenza virus and test in BALB/c mice the effect of cell-mediated immunity. In this study, two kind of NA gene (WtNA gene, the wild type; Mod. NA gene, the codon-modified type) derived from H5N1 influenza virus (A/Anhui/1/2005) were cloned and inserted respectively into plasmid of adenovirus vector, then the rAdV vaccines candidates (rAdV-WtNA and rAdV-Mod. NA) were developed and purified, followed by immunization intramuscularly (10(9) TCID50 per dose, double injection at 0 and 4th week) in BALB/c mice, the effect of cell-mediated immunity were analysed at 5th week. Results indicated that: (i) NA protein expression was detected in two rAdV vaccines candidates by Western blotting; (ii) the rAdV-Mod. NA vaccine could elicit more robust NA specific cell-mediated immunity in mice than that of rAdV-WtNA vaccine (P = 0. 016) by IFN-gamma ELIspot assay. These findings suggested rAdV-Mod. NA vaccine was a potential vaccine candidate against H5N1 influenza and worthy of further investigation.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Female ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; genetics ; immunology ; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype ; genetics ; immunology ; Influenza Vaccines ; genetics ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Neuraminidase ; genetics ; immunology ; Orthomyxoviridae Infections ; immunology ; virology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Random Allocation ; Viral Proteins ; genetics ; immunology