Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook - 17

DECIPHERING THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO VIRAL INFECTION

Sullivan also reported that due to a recent
African outbreak of EBOV, Jean Jacques
Muyembe, director general of the Institut
National de Recherche Biomédicale in
Kinshasa, DRC, is treating patients under
a WHO compassionate use protocol.
DESIGNER DNA IMMUNOTHERAPIES
Another form of immunotherapy, DNA
vaccines, sparked interest in the scientific
community in the 1990s with the
technology's theoretical ability to generate
broad immune responses without the need
for live attenuated virus. However, early
clinical trials were disappointing, despite
a good safety record. Recently, many
of those hurdles have been overcome,
propelling "designer DNA vaccines" once
again into the limelight.
"Some of the earlier challenges
were low response rates in humans,
poor reproducibility, and lack of an
immunogenic response," reported David
B. Weiner, PhD, executive vice president,
director of the Vaccine & Immunotherapy
17 | GENengnews.com

The Wistar Institute laboratory of David B. Weiner, PhD, has developed a workflow for generating DNA-encoding
monoclonal antibodies (DMAbs) against infectious disease targets. (1) An antibody of interest is selected. (2)
Sequence optimizations are performed. (3) The synthetic nucleotide is cloned into a plasmid backbone. (4) An
optimized buffer is formulated to improve shelf-life. (5) The plasmid is injected intramuscularly using facilitated in
vivo delivery at the same site to enhance plasmid uptake. (6) The plasmid is transcribed in vivo; the mRNA transcript
is translated; and the encoded product is assembled and targeted to the cellular secretory pathway. (7) Sustained,
robust, and systematic expression of the antibody is achieved. [Ziyang Xu, Megan Wise, Ami Patel, James Hayden]

http://www.GENengnews.com

Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sartorisu-Sowmya eBook