| Title | Analysis of Immune Responses Against Nucleocapsid Protein of the Hantaan Virus Elicited by Virus Infection or DNA Vaccination |
|---|---|
| Author | Gyu-Jin Woo1,2,*, Eun-Young Chun1, Keun Hee Kim1, and Wankee Kim2 |
| Address | 1Division of immunotherapy, Mogam Biotechnology Research Institute, Yongin 449-913, Republic of Korea, 2Institute for Medical Science, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon 442-749, Republic of Korea |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 43(6),537-545, 2005, |
| DOI | |
| Key Words | cellular immune response, DNA vaccine, Hantaan virus, nucleocapsid protein |
| Abstract | Even though neutralizing antibodies against the Hantaan virus (HTNV) has been proven to be critical against viral infections, the cellular immune responses to HTNV are also assumed to be important for viral clearance. In this report, we have examined the cellular and humoral immune responses against the HTNV nucleocapsid protein (NP) elicited by virus infection or DNA vaccination. To examine the cellular immune response against HTNV NP, we used H-2Kb restricted T-cell epitopes of NP. The NP-specific CD8+ T cell response was analyzed using a 51Cr-release assay, intracellular cytokine staining assay, enzyme-linked immunospot assay and tetramer binding assay in C57BL/6 mice infected with HTNV. Using these methods, we found that HTNV infection elicited a strong NP-specific CD8+ T cell response at eight days after infection. We also found that several different methods to check the NP-specific CD8+ T cell response showed a very high correlation among analysis. In the case of DNA vaccination by plasmid encoding nucleocapsid gene, the NP-specific antibody response was elicited 2 ~ 4 weeks after immunization and maximized at 6~8 weeks. NP-specific CD8+ T cell response reached its peak 3 weeks after immunization. In a challenge test with the recombinant vaccinia virus expressing NP (rVV-HTNV-N), the rVV-HTNV-N titers in DNA vaccinated mice were decreased about 100-fold compared to the negative control mice. |
| Download PDF | 537-545.pdf |