• Vaccine Name: Japanese encephalitis virus DNA vaccine pUJENS5
• Target Pathogen: Japanese encephalitis virus
• Target Disease: Japanese encephalitis
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0011352
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Antigen: Japanese encephalitis virus NS5
• NS5 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: Amplified DNA fragments containing the NS5 gene was ligated to the pUBIQ8 vector at the BspEI and/or XbaI sites to construct pUJENS5 (Konishi et al., 2003).
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0005056
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: BALB/c
• Vaccination Protocol: Four-to-six-week-old male BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly (i.m.) with 100 μg of plasmid DNA one to three times at intervals of 2 weeks. For evaluation of CTL induction, spleens were collected from groups of two immunized mice 2–4 weeks after the last immunization (Konishi et al., 2003).
• Challenge Protocol: For evaluation of protective efficacy, groups of 6–12 immunized mice were bled retroorbitally for evaluating pre-challenge serum neutralizing antibody titers, and then challenged i.p. with 100 or 400 LD50 of the P3 strain of JE virus, 6 weeks after the first immunization. Mice were observed for 21 days, and surviving mice were bled for evaluating post-challenge serum neutralizing antibody titers. For monitoring virus load following challenge, groups of 18 immunized mice were challenged with 100 LD50 of the P3 strain, and 600–700 μl of blood and the whole brain were collected 1 h (day 0) or consecutive 5 days (days 1–5) following challenge from 3 mice per day per group (Konishi et al., 2003).
• Efficacy: Researchers constructed plasmid DNAs encoding JE virus proteins. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) were induced by NS5 in a mouse model. Three immunizations with pUJENS5 provided a 57% partial protection from a lethal dose of JE virus (Konishi et al., 2003).