Expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6.docVIP

 PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2 Expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6 Authors: Zhang 1, Chang-Hong 1, Li-Mei Wang 2, Ying Xue 2, Bo Yin-lan 2, Zhi-Kai Xu [Keywords:] Mycobacterium tuberculosis; vaccines, DNA; ESAT6; CFP10; fusion protein; immunogenicity Immunogenicity of DNA vaccine expressing ESAT6CFP10 fusion protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis [Abstract] AIM: To evaluate the humoral and cellular immune response induced by the DNA vaccine expressing ESAT6CFP10 fusion protein and to test its protective efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) challenge. METHODS: BALB / c mice were immunized intramuscularly three times with 100 μ g recombinant plasmid pcDNAe6c10. Two weeks after last immunization, the specific antibody titer and the stimulation index (SI) of spleen lymphocytes from the immunized mice were measured, and the levels of IFNγ and IL2 and the activity of antigenspecific CTL were detected. The DNA vaccinevaccinated BALB / c mice were infected with 1 * 105 CFU (colony forming unit) MTB H37Rv through tail vein. Four weeks later, the bacteria load in spleen was determined. RESULTS: The titer of serum specific antibody in BALB / c mice immunized with DNA vaccine was 1:800. The SI of DNA vaccineimmunized groups (2.42 ± 0.13) was significantly higher than that of salineimmunized group. The IFNγ [(2449 ± 12) ng / L] induced by DNA vaccine was not different from that in bacillus calmette guerin (BCG) immunized group, while IL2 [(198 ± 16) ng / L] induced by DNA vaccine had significant difference from that of salineimmunized group and was lower than that of BCGimmunized group. The antigenspecific CTL efficacy was 42%. Compared with the saline immunized mice (bacteria load was 6.51 ± 0.13), a dramatic reduction of MTB replication was observed in the spleen (bacteria load was 4.51 ± 0.23, P