{"doi":"10.1128/jvi.01799-07","title":"Increased Immunogenicity of a DNA-Launched Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus-Based Replicon DNA Vaccine","abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>\n          <jats:p>A novel genetic vaccine that is based on a Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) replicon launched from plasmid DNA is described. The plasmid encodes a VEE replicon under the transcriptional control of the cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter (VEE DNA). The VEE DNA consistently expressed 3- to 15-fold more green fluorescent protein in vitro than did a conventional DNA vaccine. Furthermore, transfection with the DNA-launched VEE replicon induced apoptosis and type I interferon production. Inoculation of mice with VEE DNA encoding human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp160 significantly increased humoral responses by several orders of magnitude compared to an equal dose of a conventional DNA vaccine. These increases were also observed at 10- and 100-fold-lower doses of the VEE DNA. Cellular immune responses measured by gamma interferon and interleukin 2 enzyme-linked immunospot assay were significantly higher in mice immunized with the VEE DNA at decreased doses. The immune responses induced by the VEE DNA-encoded antigen, however, were independent of an intact type I interferon signaling pathway. Moreover, the DNA-launched VEE replicon induced an efficient prime to a VEE replicon particle (VRP) boost, increasing humoral and cellular immunity by at least 1 order of magnitude compared to VEE DNA only. Importantly, immunization with VEE DNA, as opposed to VRP, did not induce any anti-VRP neutralizing antibodies. Increased potency of DNA vaccines and reduced vector immunity may ultimately have an impact on the design of vaccination strategies in humans.</jats:p>","journal":"Journal of Virology","year":2007,"id":25582,"datarank":2.0494258623713906,"base_score":4.04305126783455,"endowment":4.04305126783455,"self_citation_contribution":0.6064576901751826,"citation_network_contribution":1.4429681721962082,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6064576901751826,"citer_contribution":1.4429681721962082,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":56,"citer_count":48,"citers_with_citation_signal":42,"citers_with_endowment":42,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":150152,"name":"Alan C. 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Johnston","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":150151,"name":"Karl Ljungberg","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":4.04305126783455,"endowment":4.04305126783455,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"17913817","pmcid":"PMC2168848","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2092184722","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"NIAID NIH HHS","grant_id":"P01-AI050246","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIAID NIH HHS","grant_id":"P01 AI050246","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":3.3227,"citation_percentile":0.91512023,"influential_citations":3,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":8},{"year":2014,"count":12},{"year":2015,"count":5},{"year":2016,"count":3},{"year":2017,"count":1},{"year":2018,"count":1},{"year":2019,"count":1},{"year":2021,"count":2},{"year":2022,"count":4},{"year":2023,"count":1},{"year":2024,"count":3},{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":1}],"oa_status":"green","license":"https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/2168848","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc2168848?pdf=render","host_type":"GREEN"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/2168848","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/JVI.01799-07","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.01799-07","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17913817","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Mosquito-borne diseases and control","Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research","HIV Research and Treatment","Medicine","Biology","Animals","Antibodies, Viral","Apoptosis","Cell Line","Chlorocebus aethiops","Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine","Genetic Vectors","HIV Envelope Protein gp160","HIV-1","Humans","Immunization","Immunoglobulin G","Interferon Type I","Interleukin-2","L Cells","Mice","Mice, Inbred BALB C","Mice, Knockout","NIH 3T3 Cells","Plasmids","Promoter Regions, Genetic","Replicon","Vaccines, DNA","Vero Cells"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Antibodies, Viral","Cell Line","Chlorocebus aethiops","Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine","Genetic Vectors","Humans","Immunoglobulin G","Immunization","Interferon Type I","Interleukin-2","L Cells","Mice, Inbred BALB C","Plasmids","Promoter Regions, Genetic","Replicon","Vero Cells","HIV-1","Apoptosis","Mice, Knockout","HIV Envelope Protein gp160","Vaccines, DNA","NIH 3T3 Cells","Mice"],"keywords":["Replicon","DNA vaccination","Biology","Virology","Immunogenicity","Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus","Plasmid","DNA","Interferon","Virus","Immune system","Molecular biology","Alphavirus","Immunology","Genetics"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-08T05:53:54.844201Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}