• Vaccine Name: Influenza virus DNA vaccine encoding NP from Influenza A virus (A/chicken/Hubei/489/2004(H5N1))
• Target Pathogen: Influenza virus
• Target Disease: Influenza (flu)
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0011529
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Antigen: Influenza A virus (A/chicken/Hubei/489/2004(H5N1)) NP nucleocapsid protein
• NP gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: The plasmid pMD-NP containing the NP gene (GenBank Accession# AY770081), which was derived from avian influenza virus A/chicken/Hubei/489/2004 (H5N1), was used as a PCR template. A eukaryotic expression vector, pVAX1 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA), was used to construct the DNA vaccine. To construct ptPAs/NP, the tissue plasminogen activator signal sequence and the full-length NP gene fragment were amplified by PCR, respectively (Luo et al., 2008).
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0000024
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: BALB/c
• Vaccination Protocol: For immunization, all DNA constructs were purified using Qiagen columns (endotoxin free). Six-week-old female BALB/C mice were immunized via intramuscular (i.m.) route with 100 μg of different DNA constructs on days 0, 14 and 28, respectively. Negative control mice were immunized with the empty vector pVAX1. Serum samples were taken 14 days after the last immunization and the mice were sacrificed. Splenocytes from vaccinated mice were collected for ELISpot and intracellular cytokine staining (ICCS) assays (Luo et al., 2008).
• Challenge Protocol: For challenge experiments, 14 days after the last immunization, the mice were challenged by the intranasal route using either 103 EID50 of A/Hubei/489 or 10 LD50 A/Hunan/211 strains in 50 μl of PBS. Mice infected with A/Hubei/489 were kept under daily observation for 7 days, and were then sacrificed. Virus titers (represented by lgEID50) from the lung were determined using the Reed-Muench method. Mice infected with A/Hunan/211 were kept under daily observation for 14 days and the survival rates were calculated (Luo et al., 2008).
• Efficacy: Vaccination with ptPAs/NP derived from Influenza A virus (A/chicken/Hubei/489/2004(H5N1)) efficiently cleared the homologous H5N1 influenza virus in the infected lungs and induced partial cross-protection against heterologous, highly pathogenic H5N1 strains in mice (Luo et al., 2008).