Humoral immune responses to DNA vaccines expressing secreted, membrane bound and non-secreted forms of the Taenia ovis 45W antigen

Abstract

The antibody response to DNA vaccines expressing secreted, membrane bound and non-secreted forms of the same antigen was investigated. The antigen gene selected for these studies was the full length 45W antigen gene from Taenia ovis. This gene encodes a host protective membrane bound antigen with a native secretion signal at the amino terminus and a hydrophobic anchor domain at the carboxyl terminus. Full length and rationally truncated forms of the 45W antigen gene were generated and used to construct DNA vaccines encoding membrane bound, secreted and non-secreted forms of the 45W antigen. The cellular localisation of these antigen forms was confirmed by Western blot studies. BALB/c mice we..