DNA vaccines — From principle to practice

Modern medical practice, as it relates to infectious disease, is founded upon: (1) the ability to prevent disease from occurring; and (2) the ability to compensate for damage to the individual in the case of an existing condition or chronic infection. Molecular biology has produced many ways to manipulate DNA, the basic information encoding system that controls all cellular processes. The ability to manipulate this information now offers new hope for the control of many old diseases, either as a preventative strategy or as a palliative treatment.