GENETIC IMMUNIZATION - A NEW ERA IN VACCINES AND IMMUNE THERAPEUTICS

DNA inoculation represents a novel approach to vaccine and immune ther apeutic develop ment, The direct injection of gene expression cassette s into a living host transforms a number of cells into factories for p roduction of the introduced gene products, Expression of these deliver ed genes has important immunological consequences and may result in th e specific immune activation of the host against the novel expressed a ntigens, The recent demonstration by laboratories that these immune re sponses are protective in some infectious disease experimental models as well as cancers is viewed with cautious optimism, Further, the rela tively short development times, ease of large-scale production, low de velopment, manufacturing, and distribution costs all combine with immu nological effectiveness to suggest that this technology will dramatica lly influence the production of a new generation of experimental vacci nes and immune therapies, It is hoped that DNA inoculation will ultima tely lead to new vaccines that are immunologically effective and econo mically accessible to all nations.