%0 Journal Article
%T A small step closer to the Holy Grail of DNA vaccines: undisputed clinical benefit in humans
%A Lars Frelin
%A Matti S£¿llberg
%J Genome Medicine
%D 2009
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/gm15
%X The development of a prophylactic and/or therapeutic DNA vaccine for humans has been shown to be more difficult than anticipated. This has often been attributed to problems related to delivery. However, things are slowly changing in the DNA vaccine arena. Today, four DNA vaccines have been licensed for veterinary use. Importantly, at the DNA Vaccines 2008 meeting the first reports with early positive data from human studies using in vivo electroporation were presented. In parallel with this, new immunological approaches have highlighted the importance of studying the quantity and quality (polyfunctionality?) of DNA vaccine-activated T cells. These may allow us to better understand the relation between in vitro-determined immune responses and in vivo protection and functionality. With these cautiously encouraging data, we may hope to see rapid advances in the field of DNA vaccines over the coming years.The DNA Vaccines 2008 meeting [http://www.bioconferences.com/CONFERENCES/DNA/ webcite]was held at the Tropicana Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, NV, USA, December 9-11, 2008. The main goals of the meeting were to gather as many scientists, clinicians, and academic and industrial investigators as possible working in the field of DNA vaccines to report and discuss their latest breakthroughs. Moreover, the meeting aimed for more intensive interactions between researchers in academia and biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies.The meeting gathered approximately 150 attendees from academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and media representatives. At the meeting, over 40 talks and around 60 posters were presented. In this report a few highlights regarding clinical studies have been selected.The meeting aim was to gather academic and industrial researchers interested in DNA vaccines. This aim was certainly fulfilled. A major obstacle in the DNA vaccine field has been the observation that although DNA vaccines work well in small animals, they do less well in larger a
%U http://genomemedicine.com/content/1/1/15