DNA vaccines: future strategies and relevance to intracellular pathogens

Increasing awareness of microbial threat has rekindled interest in the great potential of vaccines for controlling infectious diseases. The fact that diseases caused by intracellular pathogens cannot be overcome by chemotherapy alone has increased our interest in the generation of highly efficacious novel vaccines. Vaccines have proven their efficacy, as the immunoprotection they induce appears to be mediated by long-lived humoral immune responses. However, there are no consistently effective vaccines available against diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV, and other infections caused by intracellular pathogens, which are predominantly controlled by T lymphocytes. This review describes the T-cell populations and the type of immunity that should be activated by successful DNA vaccines against intracellular pathogens. It further discusses the parameters that need to be fulfilled by protective T-cell Ag. We then discuss future approaches for DNA vaccination against diseases in which cell-mediated immune responses are essential for providing protection.