Prothymosin alpha enhances protective immune responses induced by oral DNAvaccination against pseudorabies delivered by Salmonella choleraesuis

Previously, we showed that vaccination with the glycoprotein D (gD) gene of pseudorabies Virus (PrV) delivered by Escherichia coli induced protective immune responses. In this study, we report that oral DNA vaccination with a ttenuated Salmonella choleraesuis carrying the PrV go gene conferred protec tive immunity in mice against PrV. Moreover, co-delivery of the prothymosin alpha gene carried by S. choleraesuis enhanced the vaccine efficacy. Our r esults thus demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, the effective ness of oral DNA vaccination using S. choleraesuis as a delivery vehicle an d the potential usefulness of prothymosin a as a DNA Vaccine adjuvant. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.