Induction of strong cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses to hepatitis C virus with recombinant poly-epitope in BALB/c mice

Construction of an immunostimulatory plasmid, pUCpGs10, and research on its immune adjuvant effect

In order to overcome the instability of CpG ODN in vivo, sequence diversity, and individual differences, eleven CpG ODN fragments were meticulously selected and linked to form a Multi-CpG, which were repeatedly inserted into the cloning vector pUC19 for constructing the recombinant plasmid pUCpGs10 containing ten of Multi-CpG. Using the multi-genotype HCV E1 and multi-epitope complex HCV-T as immunogens, and plasmid pUCpGs10 as the immune adjuvant, Balb/c mice were immunized through nasal and subcutaneous immunization. Strong-specific humoral and cellular immune response were induced, which can obviously inhibit the growth of homograft expressing HCV antigen. The immune adjuvant effect of pUCpGs10 closely matched that of Freund's complete adjuvant. The plasmid pUCpGs10 can significantly improve IgA content in serum and different mucosal extract and systematical T-cell response via intranasal immunization. In conclusions, the newly constructed immunostimulatory plasmid pUCpGs10 is able to effectively activate the humoral and cellular immune activity, and possesses activation on mucosal immune response.