Electroporation-mediated HBV DNA vaccination in primate models

Electroporation has been shown to be an effective method to improve the efficiency of gene expression and the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. To optimize the procedure and test for its efficacy in more clinically relevant large animal models, we studied the effects of electroporation-mediated DNA vaccination with different electro-pulse parameters in rhesus macaques. Plasmid DNA encoding the HBV preS2-S and an adjuvant plasmid encoding a fused gene of IL-2 and IFN-gamma were injected intramuscularly followed by electroporation once a month for several months. The humoral as well as cellular immune responses were closely followed for more than a year. The different electro-pulse parameters resulted in considerably different intensities in immune responses, suggesting that optimization of electroporation parameters is important in developing clinical application of DNA vaccination.