Designing immune responses with genetic immunization and immunostimulatory DNA sequences

Genetic immunization or DNA vaccination represents a rapidly developing technology with new perspectives for the prevention and therapy of infectious diseases and it offers new approaches for the treatment of autoimmunity, tumors and even allergy. DNA vaccines are comprised of plasmid DNA which encodes antigen molecules directly in the transfected cells of a target organism. In contrast to protein-induced immune responses, DNA vaccines stimulate both humoral and cell-mediated immune reactions. In the present review we present a palette of unique features of genetic immunization like the effect of CpG motifs, the influence of mode and site of gene delivery and the modulation of immune responses by co-delivery of cytokines, colony stimulating factors, adhesion molecules and other stimulatory molecules. In addition, modulation of the immune response via translation, processing and presentation will be discussed, which in sum demonstrate the elegant possibilities of genetic immunization to induce tailor-made immune responses.