• Vaccine Name: C. posadasii DNA Vaccine encoding PRA Protein
• Target Pathogen: Coccidioides spp.
• Target Disease: Coccidioidomycosis (California disease, Desert rheumatism, San Joaquin valley fever, and Valley fev
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0011461
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• pra gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description:
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0000334
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: C57BL6
• Vaccination Protocol: C57BL6 mice were anesthetized by i.m. injection of ketamine-xylazine (75 µg/g and 10 µg/g body weight, respectively). Transfected DCs (1–1.5 x 10^6 per 30 µl) were intranasally administered in both nares alternately. Comparative controls were Ag2/PRA plasmid DNA alone, nontransfected cells, and cells transfected with the vector plasmid alone. The immunization was performed twice at an interval of 1 wk (on days 0 and 7). The second immunization was given to boost the immune response (Awasthi et al., 2005).
• Challenge Protocol: The immunized mice were infected with C. posadasii either i.p. or intranasally. Intranasal challenge was given on day 19 with 30 arthroconidia per 30 µl of saline, whereas the i.p. challenge was given on day 14 with 2500 arthroconidia per 500 µl of saline. The infected mice become symptomatic around day 9–10 and start dying on day 11. Therefore, the mice were sacrificed on 10th day of infection, and their lungs and spleens were collected (Awasthi et al., 2005).
• Efficacy: Upon necropsy after 10 days of infection, fungal burden in lung and spleen of immunized mice was significantly reduced as compared with the control animals. The lung tissue homogenates of immunized animals showed higher levels of IFN-gamma. Histologically, lung tissues of immunized mice were in better condition than the control mice (Awasthi et al., 2005).