The anamnestic neutralizing antibody response is critical for protection of mice from challenge following vaccination with a plasmid encoding the Japanese encephalitis virus premembrane and envelope genes.

ABSTRACT: For Japanese encephalitis (JE), we previously reported that recombinant vaccine-induced protection from disease does not prevent challenge virus replication in mice. Moreover, DNA vaccines for JE can provide protection from high challenge doses in the absence of detectable prechallenge neutralizing antibodies. In the present study, we evaluated the role of postchallenge immune responses in determining the outcome of JE virus infection, using mice immunized with a plasmid, pcDNA3JEME, encoding the JE virus premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) coding regions. In the first experiment, 10 mice were vaccinated once (five animals) or twice (remainder) with 100 micrograms of pcDNA3JEME. All of these mice showed low (6 of 10) or undetectable (4 of 10) levels of neutralizing antibodies. Interestingly

SUBMITTER: Konishi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC112610 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature