Oral DNA vaccines administered in utero might prevent neonatal infections.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Although the delivery mechanism may be challenging, a new report has revealed giving fetuses oral DNA immunizations, in utero, can protect them from vertical transmission of infectious diseases.

Among the pathogens that can be transmitted from a pregnant mother to her infant through vertical transmission include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), group B streptococcus, and herpes simplex virus (HSV). These and other infectious diseases can cause significant morbidity and mortality in newborn infants, the author of a new Canadian study say. According to them, oral DNA vaccines administered in utero might prevent the transmission of some of these infections, based on their study of newborn lambs.

"A single oral exposure in utero to plasmid DNA encoding a truncated form of glycoprotein D of bovine herpesvirus-1 induced detectable immune responses in 80% (12 of 15) of newborn lambs," reported Volker Gerdts and coauthors, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Researchers said the lambs who did develop protective immunity exhibited systemic and mucosal immune responses, and shed minimal virus when given intranasal challenges (Oral DNA vaccination in utero induces mucosal immunity and immune memory in the neonate, Journal of Immunology, February 2002;168(4):1877-1885).

Immune response memory was strong too, remaining ...