C3d enhancement of neutralizing, antibodies to measles hemagglutinin

Measles remains a major cause of worldwide infant mortality despite the use of current live attenuated vaccines. New approaches to measles virus (MV) vaccine development are critical to interrupt the spread of MV. In this stu dy, we report the results using a DNA vaccine expressing a fusion of the me asles hemagglutinin (H) protein and the complement component, Od, to enhanc e the titers of neutralizing antibody. Plasmids were generated that express ed a secreted (s) form of H and the same form fused to three tandem copies of the murine homologue of Od (sH-3C3d). Analysis of titers of the antibody raised in vaccinated mice indicated that immunizations with the DNA expres sing sH-3C3d had higher titers of anti-H antibodies compared to serum from mice vaccinated with DNA expressing sH only. In addition, sH-3C3d elicited higher neutralizing antibody titers that inhibited MV induced plaque format ion. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.