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Rapid outer-surface protein C DNA tattoo vaccination protects against Borrelia afzelii infection

Gene Therapy volume 21, pages 1051–1057 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Borrelia afzelii is the predominant Borrelia species causing Lyme borreliosis in Europe. Currently there is no human vaccine against Lyme borreliosis, and most research focuses on recombinant protein vaccines against Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. DNA tattooing is a novel vaccination method that can be applied in a rapid vaccination schedule. We vaccinated C3H/HeN mice with B. afzelii strain PKo OspC (outer-surface protein C) using a codon-optimized DNA vaccine tattoo and compared this with recombinant protein vaccination in a 0–2–4 week vaccination schedule. We also assessed protection by DNA tattoo in a 0–3–6 day schedule. DNA tattoo and recombinant OspC vaccination induced comparable total IgG responses, with a lower IgG1/IgG2a ratio after DNA tattoo. Two weeks after syringe-challenge with 5 × 105 B. afzelii spirochetes most vaccinated mice had negative B. afzelii tissue DNA loads and all were culture negative. Furthermore, DNA tattoo vaccination in a 0–3–6 day regimen also resulted in negative Borrelia loads and cultures after challenge. To conclude, DNA vaccination by tattoo was fully protective against B. afzelii challenge in mice in a rapid vaccination protocol, and induces a favorable humoral immunity compared to recombinant protein vaccination. Rapid DNA tattoo is a promising vaccination strategy against spirochetes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Erol Fikrig (Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA) for providing the OspC-mutant Borrelia burgdorferi strain. This work was supported by a ‘Veni’ grant (91611065 and 91610095) received from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw).

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Author notes

  1. A D Bins and J W R Hovius: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

    A Wagemakers, L M K Mason, T van der Poll & J W R Hovius

  2. Department of Medical Microbiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A Oei & B de Wever

  3. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    T van der Poll & J W R Hovius

  4. Division of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A D Bins

  5. Amsterdam Multidisciplinary Lyme Center, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J W R Hovius

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  1. A Wagemakers
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  2. L M K Mason
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Correspondence to J W R Hovius.

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Wagemakers, A., Mason, L., Oei, A. et al. Rapid outer-surface protein C DNA tattoo vaccination protects against Borrelia afzelii infection. Gene Ther 21, 1051–1057 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/gt.2014.87

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