Characterization of immune responses induced by inactivated, live attenuated and DNA vaccines against Japanese encephalitis virus in mice

Vaccination is the most effective countermeasure for protecting individuals from Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection. There are two types of JEV vaccines currently used in China: the Vero cell-derived inactivated vaccine and the live attenuated vaccine. In this study, we characterized the immune response and protective efficacy induced in mice by the inactivated vaccine, live attenuated vaccine and the DNA vaccine candidate pCAG-JME, which expresses JEV prM-E proteins. We found that the live attenuated vaccine conferred 100% protection and resulted in the generation of high levels of specific anti-JEV antibodies and cytokines. The pCAG-JME vaccine induced protective immunity as well as the live attenuated vaccine. Unexpectedly, immunization with the inactivated vaccine only induced a limited immune response and partial protection, which may be due to the decreased activity of dendritic cells and the expansion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells observed in these mice. Altogether, our results suggest that the live attenuated vaccine is more effective in providing protection against JEV infection than the inactivated vaccine and that pCAG-JME will be a potential JEV vaccine candidate.