Important note: Information in this article was accurate in January 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, January 25, 1999
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
The finding may lead to new vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases and for contraception.
Harvard and University of Massachusetts researchers used Geniva's Accell gene delivery instrument to administer plasmid DNA priming and boosting vaccinations to the vaginal mucosa of female rats.
They found that immunization led to high titers of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG that were sustained throughout the 14-week study period.
"We demonstrated that gene-gun-administered plasmids transfect mucosal tissues in vivo and that vaginal immunization yielded higher titer cervicovaginal antibodies than the skin or Peyer's patch route of immunization," wrote Julie B. Livingston, Deborah J. Anderson, and colleagues.
Livingston et al. reported their findings in the journal Infection and Immunity ("Immunization of the Female Genital Tract with a DNA- Based Vaccine," Infect Immun, 1998;66(1):322-29).
The researchers also explored various other prime/boost strategies for inducing vaginal immune responses: abdominal skin prime/vaginal boost, skin/skin/, Peyer's patch/Peyer's patch, and Peyer's patch/vagina. But vaginal priming followed by vaginal boosting was the only immunization protocol capable of eliciting sustained antibody responses in vaginal secretions.
"The work presented here explores a new area in vaccine development: DNA vaccines to induce mucosal immunity," Livingston et al. concluded. "We have demonstrated that mucosal tissues are capable of expressing DNA-based antigens and that the vaginal mucosal route of immunization is more effective than systemic (skin) immunization in inducing a local vaginal immune response."
This work was supported by the Harvard Medical School, the Brigham and Women's Ob/Gyn Associates, and a grant from the NIH.
The corresponding author for this study is Deborah J. Anderson, Fearing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, SGMB, Room 204, 250 Longwood Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Phone: (617) 432-0841. Fax: (617) 432-0359. Email: <djanderson@bics.bwh.harvard.edu>.
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