• Vaccine Name: T. gondii DNA vaccine pVAX-TgGRA17 + pVAX-TgGRA23
• Target Pathogen: Toxoplasma gondii
• Target Disease: Toxoplasmosis
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Host Species for Licensed Use: Human
• Antigen: GRA17 and GRA23 (Zhu et al., 2017)
• GRA17 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: The coding sequences of GRA17 was amplified by RT-PCR from total RNA, and then were inserted into pMD18-T. The GRA1 fragment was cleaved from pMD-TgGRA17 and was sub-cloned into the corresponding sites of pVAX I, eventually formed pVAX-TgGRA17. (Zhu et al., 2017)
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• GRA23 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description: The coding sequences of GRA23 was amplified by RT-PCR from total RNA, and then were inserted into pMD18-T. The GRA1 fragment was cleaved from pMD-TgGRA23 and was sub-cloned into the corresponding sites of pVAX I, eventually formed pVAX-TgGRA23. (Zhu et al., 2017)
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)
• Description: T. gondii DNA vaccine encoding GRA17 and GRA23 using pVAX I vector. (Zhu et al., 2017)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: BALB/c (Zhu et al., 2017)
• Vaccination Protocol: A total of 78 mice were randomly divided into six groups (13 mice per group). For the experimental groups, mice were immunized with 100 μl (100 μg) of pVAX-TgGRA17, pVAX-TgGRA23, and pVAX-TgGRA17 + pVAX-TgGRA23, respectively, by intramuscular injections and given booster immunizations 2 and 4 weeks later. Mice injected with empty pVAX I vector or PBS were served as negative control groups, and the blank control group received nothing. (Zhu et al., 2017)
• Challenge Protocol: Two weeks after the last immunization, 10 mice per group were challenged intraperitoneally with 1 × 10^3 tachyzoites of the highly virulent T. gondii RH strain and the survival time of mice was monitored daily. (Zhu et al., 2017)
• Efficacy: The average survival time of mice immunized with pVAX-TgGRA17 + pVAX-TgGRA23 (12.6 ± 2.55 days) was significantly longer than that of the three control groups (blank control, 7.11 ± 0.33 days; PBS control, 7.22 ± 0.44 days; pVAX I control, 7.11 ± 0.33 days) (P < 0.05). The difference in the average survival time of mice among the three control groups was not statistically significant, which all died within 8 days after challenge. (Zhu et al., 2017)