Immunogenicity of novel consensus-based DNA vaccines against avian influenza

The frequency of H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in China and Eastern Europe has raised concern in the world health community regarding the potential for an influenza pandemic. Efforts to monitor the disease will only provide minimal warning in a global society, and steps must be taken to prevent the morbidity and mortality associated with past pandemics. The current stockpiling of antibody-inducing “bird flu” vaccines assumes the strain that emerges will be the same as strains currently circulating. We propose a novel consensus-based approach to vaccine development, employing a DNA vaccine strategy that can provide more highly cross-reactive cellular immunity against lethal influenza infection. We show such constructs can induce strong cellular immunity against H5 influenza antigens.