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A DNA vaccine candidate delivered by an electroacupuncture machine provides protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection

2022; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 7; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41541-022-00482-0

2059-0105

Tsai-Teng Tzeng, Kit Man Chai, Kuan‐Yin Shen, Chia-Yi Yu, Shiu-Ju Yang, Wan‐Chun Huang, Hung‐Chun Liao, Fang‐Feng Chiu, Horng-Yunn Dou, Ching‐Len Liao, Hsin‐Wei Chen, Shih‐Jen Liu,

RNA Interference and Gene Delivery

A major challenge in the use of DNA vaccines is efficient DNA delivery in vivo. Establishing a safe and efficient electric transfer method is the key to developing rapid DNA vaccines against emerging infectious diseases. To overcome the complexity of designing new electric transfer machines for DNA delivery, a clinically approved electric transfer machine could be considered as an alternative. Here, we report an electroacupuncture machine-based method for DNA vaccine delivery after intramuscular injection of the COVID-19 DNA vaccine. The S gene of SARS-CoV-2 in the pVAX1 plasmid (pSARS2-S) was used as an antigen in this study. We optimized the clinically used electroacupuncture machine settings for efficient induction of the neutralizing antibody titer after intramuscular injection of pSARS2-S in mice. We found that pSARS2-S immunization at 40 Vpp for 3-5 s could induce high neutralizing antibody titers and Th1-biased immune responses. IFN-γ/TNF-α-secreting CD4