Christine Hartoonian, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Hoorieh Soleimanjahi, Ali Karami, Mehdi Mahdavi, Nasrin Rastgoo, Kayhan Azadmanesh

Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 16 Azar, Enghelab Ave., P.O. Box 1417614411, Tehran, Iran.
Cytokine(Impact Factor: 2.52). 05/2009; 46(1):43-50. DOI:10.1016/j.cyto.2008.12.007
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT: The use of cytokines as adjuvants has been shown to be a promising approach for enhancing DNA vaccine induced-immune responses. In this report, we investigate the administration of cytokines to modulate both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses elicited by an HCV-core plasmid DNA vaccine in Balb/c mice. Our studies indicate that the HCV-core DNA vaccine has been able to induce both antibody and cellular immunity in a DNA prime-protein boost regimen. GM-CSF (granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor) which is considered to be a cytokine displaying both Th1 and Th2 characteristics, and plays an important role in augmenting antibody and cell-mediated immunity was also administered. The induction of cellular immunity was not as striking as humoral immunity in this case. To obtain a stronger cellular response, IL-23, a Th1 cytokine belonging to the IL-12 family, was also included in the regimen. Spleen cell proliferation, IFN-gamma production from spleen cells and specific serum IgG2a, all demonstrate the enhancement of cell-mediated immunity without any observable suppressive effect on antibody and humoral immune responses. We also examined the timing of plasmid IL-23 administration on the phenotype of the resultant T cell responses in a 3 day interval, before and after plasmid GM-CSF administration. The results did not indicate any change in the Th1/Th2 balance as compared with simultaneous IL-23 administration.