Enhancing Effect of Vaxfectin on the Ability of a Japanese Encephalitis DNA Vaccine to Induce Neutralizing Antibody in Mice

Vaxfectin, a recently developed adjuvant, was evaluated for its enhancing effect on immunogenicity of a Japanese encephalitis (JE) DNA vaccine plasmid encoding the JE virus premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) genes (designated pcJEME), using BALB/c and ICR mice. Formulation of pcJEME with Vaxfectin provided > or =8-fold higher neutralizing antibody titers than those induced by pcJEME alone and reduced the amount of pcJEME to one-tenth to induce comparable levels of neutralizing antibody. Use of Vaxfectin did not alter a Th1 type IgG isotype immune response (IgG1 < IgG2a) induced by pcJEME in mice. These results indicate that Vaxfectin has an ability to enhance immunogenicity of pcJEME and is considered as a useful adjuvant for DNA vaccines in murine experimental models.