| First Author | Maecker HT | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 166 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 959-65 |
| PubMed ID | 11145673 | Mgi Jnum | J:66845 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1929344 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.166.2.959 |
| Citation | Maecker HT, et al. (2001) Vaccination with allergen-IL-18 fusion DNA protects against, and reverses established, airway hyperreactivity in a murine asthma model. J Immunol 166(2):959-65 |
| abstractText | Vaccination with naked DNA encoding a specific allergen has been shown previously to prevent, but not reverse, the development of allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). To enhance the effectiveness of DNA vaccine therapies and make possible the treatment of established AHR, we developed a DNA vaccination plasmid containing OVA cDNA fused to IL-18 cDNA. Vaccination of naive mice either with this fusion DNA construct or with an OVA cDNA-containing plasmid protected the mice from the subsequent induction of AHR. Protection from AHR correlated with increased IFN-gamma production and reduced OVA-specific IgE production. The protection appeared to be mediated by IFN-gamma and CD8(+) cells because treatment of mice with neutralizing anti-IFN-gamma mAb or with depleting anti-CD8 mAb abolished the protective effect. Moreover, vaccination of mice with preexisting AHR with the OVA-IL-18 fusion DNA, but not with the OVA cDNA plasmid, reversed established AHR, reduced allergen-specific IL-4, and increased allergen-specific IFN-gamma production. Thus, combining IL-18 cDNA with OVA cDNA resulted in a vaccine construct that protected against the development of AHR, and that was unique among cDNA constructs in its capacity to reverse established AHR. |
