• Vaccine Name: B. melitensis DNA vaccine p-ialB
• Target Pathogen: Brucella spp.
• Target Disease: Brucellosis
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0004397
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Host Species as Laboratory Animal Model: Mouse
• IalB gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: Vector pCR3.1 expressed IalB (Commander et al., 2007).
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0000234
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)

Mouse Response

• Vaccine Immune Response Type: VO_0000286
• Immune Response: Brucella specific IFNγ was still evident at 12 weeks post-vaccination, albeit at low concentration, indicating generation of a lasting Th1 immune response (Commander et al., 2007).
• Efficacy: P-ialB vaccine was very promising in terms of control of Brucella challenge, as they were unable to recover viable Brucella from the spleens of 60% (three out of five) p-ialB treated mice of a study group following challenge with ∼1 × 104 CFU B. melitensis 16M per mouse. The remaining two mice showed significantly reduced Brucella loads compared to the unvaccinated (PBS and vector control) mice. If the data is considered in terms of the % of animals without detectable Brucella in their spleens (less than 10 CFU per spleen) at 15 days post-challenge, the effect of the p-ialB vaccination is judged to be equivalent to that of the Rev.1 live attenuated vaccine, with each vaccine able to ‘protect’ 60% of the test population. Moreover, a comparison of the total quantitative data available from each sample shows the Brucella load of the p-ialB and Rev.1 vaccinated animals to be significantly lower (p < 0.05, one-way ANOVA, Dunnett's post-test) than that observed for the unprotected controls (PBS or pcDNA3.1 vector control vaccinated mice). This vaccine was shown to have a protective index of greater than 2.5 (Commander et al., 2007).