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Improvement of the immune response against plasmid DNA encoding OspC of Borrelia by an ER-targeting leader sequence
R Weiss1, J Dürnberger, S Mostböck
1Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, A-5020, Salzburg, Austria.
Abstract:
The present study outlines the characterization of a DNA-based immune response against the OspC antigen, one of the most promising candidates for a Borrelia vaccine. Balb/c mice were injected intradermally with plasmid DNA encoding the OspC gene (lacking the natural leader sequence) under transcriptional control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promotor. Immunization with this construct elicited only a marginal response, which was drastically improved by a fusion construct containing the human tissue plasminogen activator (hTPA) signal sequence. The results indicate that for DNA-based immunization against OspC an ER-targeting signal may be necessary for both antibody production as well as cellular immune responses.