Optimized DNA Vaccine Enhanced by Adjuvant IL28B Induces Protective Immune Responses Against Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 in Mice

Antigen-specific immune responses determine the efficacy of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) vaccines. To optimize the immunogenicity of the antigen gD2, we developed the gD2UL25 DNA vaccine encoding HSV-2 glycoprotein D and UL25 gene encoding viral capsid vertex proteins in this study. The gD2 and gD2UL25 DNA vaccines were compared with formalin-inactivated HSV-2 (FI-HSV-2), and results showed a greater protective immune response induced by gD2UL25 than by gD2. Therefore, gD2UL25 was chosen to evaluate further using the IL28B adjuvant. Immunization with gD2UL25/IL28B elicited stronger humoral and T cell immune responses than with gD2UL25 alone. Compared with controls, gD2UL25/IL28B decreased HSV-2 viral loads and induced protective effects against genital tract lesions generated by HSV-2. These findings demonstrated that the prophylactic DNA vaccine gD2UL25 with IL28B adjuvant could enhance the humoral and T cell immune responses, and improve the protective immune response against HSV-2 in female mice compared with FI-HSV-2.