Comparison of individual and combination DNA vaccines for B. anthracis, Ebola virus, Marburg virus and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus

• Published in: Vaccine 2003-09, Vol.21 (25-26), p.4071-4080
• Main Authors: Riemenschneider, Jenny, Garrison, Aura, Geisbert, Joan, Jahrling, Peter, Hevey, Michael, Negley, Diane, Schmaljohn, Alan, Lee, John, Hart, Mary Kate, Vanderzanden, Lorna, Custer, David, Bray, Mike, Ruff, Albert, Ivins, Bruce, Bassett, Anthony, Rossi, Cynthia, Schmaljohn, Connie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alphavirus; Animal diseases; Animal models; Animal species; Animals; Anthrax - immunology; Anthrax - prevention & control; Anthrax Vaccines - immunology; Antibodies, Bacterial - biosynthesis; Antibodies, Viral - biosynthesis; Antigens; Bacillus anthracis; Biolistics; Biological & chemical weapons; Combined vaccines; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Disease; DNA; DNA vaccines; Ebola virus; Ebolavirus - immunology; EBOV and MARV; Edema; Encephalitis; Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine - immunology; Encephalomyelitis, Venezuelan Equine - immunology; Encephalomyelitis, Venezuelan Equine - prevention & control; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Feasibility studies; Fever; Filoviridae; Glycoproteins; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - immunology; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - prevention & control; Humans; Immune response; Immunity; Infectious diseases; Laboratory animals; Licenses; Macaca fascicularis; Marburg disease; Marburg virus; Marburg Virus Disease - immunology; Marburg Virus Disease - prevention & control; Marburgvirus - immunology; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Multiagent systems; Pathogens; Plasmids; Plasmids - immunology; Proteins; Rabbits; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Vaccines; Vaccines, Combined - immunology; Vaccines, DNA - immunology; VEEV; Venezuelan equine encephalitis; Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus; Viral diseases; Viral Vaccines - immunology; Viruses
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/S0264-410X(03)00362-1

Multiagent DNA vaccines for highly pathogenic organisms offer an attractive approach for preventing naturally occurring or deliberately introduced diseases. Few animal studies have compared the feasibility of combining unrelated gene vaccines. Here, we demonstrate that DNA vaccines to four dissimilar pathogens that are known biowarfare agents, Bacillus anthracis, Ebola (EBOV), Marburg (MARV), and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), can elicit protective immunity in relevant animal models. In addition, a combination of all four vaccines is shown to be equally as effective as the individual vaccines for eliciting immune responses in a single animal species. These results demonstrate for the first time the potential of combined DNA vaccines for these agents and point to a possible method of rapid development of multiagent vaccines for disparate pathogens such as those that might be encountered in a biological attack.