BIOL 4050U Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Exam Guide - Protein, Dna, Inflammation
Document Summary
Electroporation improves efficacy of dna vaccines in large animals notes. Plasmid-based vaccines can be considered as a novel approach to immunology. Dna vaccines are able to induce immunity to a wide variety of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and parasites. Dna vaccines do not require a cold chain to maintain the efficacy of the vaccine. Dna vaccinations are safer than using live attenuated vaccines. To investigate the efficacy of in vivo electroporation, the researchers used plasmids encoding two completely different antigens. Membrane protein (bovine herpesvirus glycoprotein gene gd) Engerix-b sub-unit vaccine: helps prevent hepatitis b by exposing the animal model to a small amount of the virus. Site of vaccination was quadriceps of both hind legs. Electroporation facilitates the introduction of foreign dna into target organism by changing permeability of the cell membrane. Level of antigens expressed correlates with the magnitude of the elicited immune response. Protein subunit vaccine: only includes the antigens that stimulate an immune response.
