Research
A combined nucleocapsid vaccine induces vigorous SARS-CD8+ T-cell immune responses
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* Corresponding author: Francisco Diaz-Mitoma diaz@cheo.on.ca
1 Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research Centre, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada
2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M2, Canada
Genetic Vaccines and Therapy 2005, 3:7 doi:10.1186/1479-0556-3-7
Published: 22 August 2005Abstract
Several studies have shown that cell-mediated immune responses play a crucial role in controlling viral replication. As such, a candidate SARS vaccine should elicit broad CD8+ T-cell immune responses. Several groups of mice were immunized alone or in combination with SARS-nucleocapsid immunogen. A high level of specific SARS-CD8+ T-cell response was demonstrated in mice that received DNA encoding the SARS-nucleocapsid, protein and XIAP as an adjuvant. We also observed that co-administration of a plasmid expressing nucleocapsid, recombinant protein and montanide/CpG induces high antibody titers in immunized mice. Moreover, this vaccine approach merits further investigation as a potential candidate vaccine against SARS.