Porcine interleukin-3 enhances DNA vaccination against classical swine fever

DNA vectors can be used to deliver vaccine antigens that stimulate effective protective immunity in mice, but in larger, outbred animal species, the protective efficacy is lower or large doses of DNA are required. These data demonstrate that porcine interleukin-3 (IL-3) when delivered to pigs by DNA vector or in low doses as recombinant protein, can enhance antibody responses to classical swine fever virus antigen expressed from co-delivered DNA, and improve the protective efficacy of the DNA vaccine. The effect was further enhanced when IL-3 was expressed as a fusion protein with the potyvirus coat protein. The adjuvant effect of IL-3 was compared to that of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and IL-3 was shown to be at least as efficacious as GM-CSF. The response to IL-3 is novel and suggests, that at least in pigs, IL-3 could be used as an adjuvant for DNA vaccines.