Rabies DNA vaccines for protection and therapeutic treatment

DNA vaccines have shown efficacy in preclinical animal models in preventing or even treating a variety of diseases caused by infectious agents, malignancies or immunological disorders. One of the main perceived advantages of DNA vaccines for use in less developed countries is their low cost. Nevertheless, in general, immune responses elicited by DNA vaccines are less potent than those induced by traditional vaccines or second generation viral recombinant vaccines, and their efficacy in human Phase I trials has been disappointing. DNA vaccines have shown good efficacy in preventing rabies in some experimental animal models; their performance in postexposure treatment has been less impressive. Considering that rabies is nearly always fatal, efficacious vaccines are available and treatment in most cases is initiated after exposure, the development of current DNA vaccines to rabies for use in humans is, at the current time, not appropriate.