| Summary: | To combat the threat of many emerging infectious diseases, DNA immunization offers a unique and powerful approach to the production of high-quality monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against various pathogens. Compared with traditional protein-based immunization approaches, DNA immunization is efficient for testing novel immunogen designs, does not require the production or purification of proteins from a pathogen or the use of recombinant protein technology and is effective at generating mAbs against conformation-sensitive targets. Although significant progress in the use of DNA immunization to generate mAbs has been made over the last two decades, the literature does not contain an updated summary of this experience. The current review provides a comprehensive analysis of the literature, including our own work, describing the use of DNA immunization to produce highly functional mAbs, in particular, those against emerging infectious diseases. Critical factors such as immunogen design, delivery approach, immunization schedule, use of immune modulators and the role of final boost immunization are discussed in detail.Emerging Microbes and Infections (2016) 5, e35; doi:10.1038/emi.2016.27; published online 20 April 2016Immunology: producing high quality monoclonal antibodies by DNA immunizationUsing DNA to trigger an immune response against the proteins it codes for can generate high quality monoclonal antibodies for medicine and research. Shan Lu at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA and co-authors review the application and advantages of this technique. DNA immunization is proving an efficient way to obtain single clone ("monoclonal") antibody without first needing to produce and purify the proteins used in conventional immunization to stimulate antibody production. The authors survey the most critical issues involved in applying DNA immunization to develop useful monoclonal antibodies, particularly for use against emerging infectious diseases. They conclude that the technique is more effective than conventional approaches for generating antibodies against difficult targets, especially proteins embedded in cell membranes and those in which the native conformation is crucial for antibody binding.
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