CD8 T-cell activation in mice injected with a plasmid DNA vaccine encoding AMA-1 of the reemerging Korean Plasmodium vivax.

Relatively little has been studied on the AMA-1 vaccine against Plasmodium vivax and on the plasmid DNA vaccine encoding P vivax AMA-1 (PvAMA-1). In the present study, a plasmid DNA vaccine encoding AMA-1 of the reemerging Korean P vivax has been constructed and a preliminary study was done on its cellular immunogenicity to recipient BALB/c mice. The PvAMA-1 gene was cloned and expressed in the plasmid vector UBpcAMA-1, and a protein band of approximately 56.8 kDa was obtained from the transfected COS7 cells. BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly or using a gene gun 4 times with the vaccine, and the proportions of splenic T-cell subsets were examined by fluorocytometry at week 2 after the last injection. The spleen cells from intramuscularly injected mice revealed no significant changes in the proportions of CD8(+) T-cells and CD4(+) T-cells. However, in mice immunized using a gene gun, significantly higher (P < 0.05) proportions of CD8(+) cells were observed compared to UB vector-injected control mice. The results indicated that cellular immunogenicity of the plasmid DNA vaccine encoding AMA-1 of the reemerging Korean P vivax was weak when it was injected intramuscularly; however, a promising effect was observed using the gene gun injection technique.