Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 23
DNA Vaccines against Viruses
Britta Wahren
†
and Margaret A. Liu
*
,†,‡
Rationale for Gene-based Vaccines
The administration of genes encoding antigens, either via viral or
bacterial vectors, or as plasmid DNA, may be the next generation of
vaccines and therapeutics to arise from recombinant DNA technol-
ogy. Although vaccines have been amazingly effective for a variety of
diseases, other diseases have been less amenable to prevention or
control through traditional vaccine approaches. The rationale for
using genes rather than proteins or forms of the pathogens them-
selves arose from a variety of immunologic, manufacturing and safety
challenges unique to the pathogens (such as HIV and malaria) or the
disease (such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, or allergy). The partic-
ular characteristics of DNA plasmids in terms of the immune responses
that are generated against the antigens encoded by the DNA, and the
features of DNA as a product, relative to other biologicals, have led
* Corresponding author.
†
Department of Microbiology and Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, Swedish
Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden.
‡
ProTherImmune, Lafayette, California, USA.
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