Impact of timing strategy of LIGHT, a new TNF superfamily on immune platform induced by HSV-1 gB DNA vaccine

Abstract

Although the role of various cytokines on stimulating the immune responses is characterized well, the importance of LIGHT, a member of TNF superfamily, is less clear. In the current study, we administrated LIGHT expression plasmid as an adjuvant to HSV-1 gB DNA vaccine. HSV-1 gB DNA can elicit vigorous humoral and cell mediated immunity in BALB/c mice. LIGHT could potentiate the proliferation of T lymphocytes and induction of T CD8(+) cells performing by measuring Granzyme B, a specific marker of CMI immunity and virus neutralization antibody titer. In this study, timing effect of cytokine administration on the resultant immune pattern was evaluated in three different timing groups. The group received LIGHT 3 days before DNA vaccine, demonstrated significant increase in cell mediated immunity. So, utilization of an adjuvant to DNA vaccine can significantly influences the induced immune response consequently and this phenomenon could be important to obtain the optimal response in DNA vaccine strategy. Given the growing use of plasmid-based immune adjuvants to improve the immunogenicity and efficacy of DNA vaccines, these findings support the need for further detailed study of this class of agent.