Prediction of Hyperbaric Oxygen Toxicity

Dengue virus (DV) is a serious threat to people including military personal in endemic areas. So far no prophylactic vaccine is available. The aim of this study is to develop a DV vaccine patch. Transcutaneous vaccination by topical application of apatch requires a lower level of medical training, is economical, painless, safe, and effective in a number of animal models. The hypothesis is that the expression of pre-membrane and envelope proteins (preM/E) in the outer layer of the skin followinginoculation of DNA vaccines can stimulate neutralizing antibodies against preM/E and thereby induce a protective immune response against DV infection. Cholera toxin has been used as adjuvant for transcutaneous vaccination. We have previously shown thatan immune response can be elicited by topical application of a plasmid coupled to adenovirus and that GM-CSF can enhance the potency of transcutaneous vaccines. In these studies, we will evaluate cholera toxin as well as GM-CSF as potential adjuvant for aDNA-based transcutaneous vaccine against DV. We will also compare the protocols developed in this proposal to their counterparts using intramuscular injected DNA vaccines. The line of investigation proposed herein may allow the development of efficaciousand safe vaccination protocols against DV infection.The transcutaneous DNA-based vaccine as proposed in these studies could arrive as the first prophylactic vaccine against dengue virus infection if its efficacy and safety should appear superior to othermethods. People living in endemic areas, military personal deployed to the tropics and subtropics and travelers would greatly benefit from an effective dengue vaccine, particularly a dengue vaccine patch that can be administered simply and confers nopain.