A Novel Cre Recombinase-Mediated In Vivo Minicircle (CRIM) DNA Vaccine Platform for Veterinary Application

Minicircle DNA (mcDNA) has been considered to be an alternative choice of traditional DNA vaccine due to its much smaller size, resulting in more efficient antigen synthesis, enhanced and long-lasting adaptive immune response, especially cellular immune response. However, the disadvantages such as relative high cost and labor intensiveness severely restrict its direct application in the field of veterinary vaccine. Here, we describe a novel Cre Recombinase-mediated In vivo McDNA platform, named CRIM, in which the parental plasmid could spontaneously transform into mcDNA by itself after transfection or oral administration. This CRIM vaccine platform might serve as a novel oral antigen delivery system for any infectious diseases, especially for veterinary application.