ANTIBODIES TO SCHISTOSOMA-JAPONICUM (ASIAN BLOODFLUKE) PARAMYOSIN INDUCED BY NUCLEIC-ACID VACCINATION

Nucleic acid vaccination by intramuscular or intradermal delivery of D NA plasmids encoding antigenic proteins has been shown to confer prote ction in experimental animals against viruses and unicellular protozoa n parasites. However, this revolutionary approach has not been tested for induction of immunity to multicellular parasites, such as trematod e worms. We report here, for the first time, that murine antibodies ca n be induced by intramuscular injection with plasmid DNA encoding frag ments of Schistosoma japonicum paramyosin (Sj97), a 97 kDa molecule an d a promising vaccine candidate in schistosomiasis. An additional cons truct containing the gene encoding full-length glutathione S-transfera se (Sj26), another recognised anti-schistosome vaccine target, failed to raise detectable levels of specific antibody. (C) 1995 Academic Pre ss, Inc.