Current progress of DNA vaccine studies in humans

Despite remarkable progress in the field of DNA vaccine research since its discovery in the early 1990s, the formal acceptance of this novel technology as a new modality of human vaccines depends on the successful demonstration of its safety and efficacy in advanced clinical trials. Although clinical trials conducted so far have provided overwhelming evidence that DNA vaccines are well tolerated and have an excellent safety profile, the early designs of DNA vaccines failed to demonstrate sufficient immunogenicity in humans. However, studies conducted over the last few years have led to promising results, particularly when DNA vaccines were used in combination with other forms of vaccines. Here, we provide a review of the data from reported DNA vaccine clinical studies with an emphasis on the ability of DNA vaccines to elicit antigen-specific, cell-mediated and antibody responses in humans. The majority of these trials are designed to test candidate vaccines against several major human pathogens and the remaining studies tested the immunogenicity of therapeutic vaccines against cancer.