AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, June 29, 2009
Staff Medical Writers

(NewsRx.com) -- "In higher eukaryotes, introns are usually required for efficient pre-mRNA processing. However, some viruses have alternative approaches involving posttranscriptional regulatory elements (PREs) to enhance intronless heterologous gene expression through enabling stability and 30 end formation, and to facilitate the nucleocytoplasmic export of unspliced mRNAs," researchers in Beijing, People's Republic of China report (see also DNA Vaccines).

"In the current study, we compared the human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) immediate/early (IE) intronA, as well as virus-derived PREs-the PRE of Hepatitis B virus (HPRE) and Woodchuck Hepatitis virus (WPRE) on their ability to enhance antigen gene expression in vitro and immune responses induced by DNA vaccination in animal. Among all the constructs, the plasmids carrying the HPRE element showed the highest gene expression level in both in vivo and in vitro models. During immunization of mice with low doses (10 mg) of HIV-1 DNA vaccine, only -intronA/+HPRE and +intronA/+HPRE vaccine constructs induced anti-Gag antibodies, although the +intronA/+WPRE construct also elicited antigen-specific cellular immune responses. In addition, pInHGag (+intronA/+HPRE) at a 10 mg dose could induce higher anti-Gag antibody level than that induced by pGag (+intronA/+HPRE) or pInGag (+intronA/+HPRE) at 40 mg dose (p < 0.05)," wrote J. Sun and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Our data are useful for the optimization of heterologous expression and immunogenicity of DNA vaccines."

Sun and colleagues published their study in DNA and Cell Biology (Posttranscriptional Regulatory Elements Enhance Antigen Expression and DNA Vaccine Efficacy. DNA Cell Biol. 2009 May;28(5):233-40).

For additional information, contact Y. Liu, Chinese Center Diseases Control & Prevention, State Key Laboratory Infectious Disease Prevention & Control, National Center AIDS STD Control & Prevention, 27 Nanwei Rd., Beijing 100050, People's Republic of China.

Publisher contact information for the journal DNA and Cell Biology is: Mary Ann Liebert Inc., 140 Huguenot Street, 3RD FL, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA.

Keywords: People's Republic of China, Beijing, AIDS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Biotechnology, Cell Biology, Cytomegalovirus, DNA Research, DNA Vaccines, Gastroenterology, HBV, HIV, Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatology, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Viral Infection, Immunization, Infectious Disease, Medical Device, Vaccination, Vaccine Efficacy, Virology.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

2009-06-29
AW090613

Copyright © 2009 - Charles Henderson, Publisher. All rights Reserved. Permission to reproduce granted to AEGIS by Charles W. Henderson. Authorization to reproduce for personal use granted granted by C. W. Henderson, Publisher, provided that the fee of US$4.50 per copy, per page is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970, USA. Published by Charles Henderson, Publisher. Editorial & Publishing Office: P.O. Box 5528, Atlanta, GA 30307-0528 / Telephone: (800) 633-4931; Subscription Office: P.O. Box 830409, Birmingham, AL 35283-0409 / FAX: (205) 995-1588 http://www.newsrx.net

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2009. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.