Summary
In vivo transfection by intramuscular injection with plasmids expressing the immunogenic proteins of microbial pathogens has considerable potential as a vaccination strategy against many pathogens of both man and animals. Here we report that weanling mice given a single intramuscular injection of 50µg of a plasmid, pSLE1 expressing the St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLE) prM/E protein under the control of the cytomegalovirus immediate early protein promoter produced SLE-specific antibody and were protected against lethal challenge with the virulent virus. Polynucleotide vaccine technology provides a unique opportunity to produce vaccines against flavivirus diseases of low incidence cheaply and rapidly, and to produce multivalent vaccines such as would be required for immunisation against dengue virus disease.
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Phillpotts, R.J., Venugopal, K. & Brooks, T. Immunisation with DNA polynucleotides protects mice against lethal challenge with St. Louis encephalitis virus. Archives of Virology 141, 743–749 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01718332
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01718332