5B), but with diminished magnitude when compared to i.m. vaccinated mice. Thus, i.m. DNA priming produced more robust nasal Ab responses to V-Ag and F1-Ag. To assess the magnitude and distribution of Ab-forming cell (AFC) responses induced

by the LTN DNA vaccines, a B cell ELISPOT was performed using lymphocytes of various lymphoid tissues at 14 wks post-primary immunization. For the i.n. immunization study, since LTN/F1-V DNA vaccine showed best efficacy against pneumonic plague challenge, only these mice were evaluated, and elevated F1- and V-Ag-specific IgA and IgG AFC responses were detected in the spleens, HNLNs, NALT, NPs, SMGs, iLP, Smad inhibitor and PPs from nasally LTN/F1-V DNA-immunized mice (Fig. 6). Anti-F1- and -V-Ag-specific IgA and IgG AFC responses were detected in the spleens and peripheral lymph

nodes, as well as in mucosal tissues, HNLNs, NALT, NPs, SMGs, iLP, and PPs. These results showed that the nasal LTN DNA vaccine stimulated elevated immune B cells in both the mucosal and peripheral immune compartments. For i.m. immunization study, F1- and V-Ag-specific IgA and IgG AFC responses were detected in the spleen, HNLNs, NPs, iLP, LLNs, and PopLNs from mice immunized with each of the LTN DNA vaccines (Fig. 7). In addition to show the priming effect by the LTN DNA vaccines to stimulate protective immunity against plague, Rapamycin nmr AFC responses were also detected from F1-Ag protein-only immunized mice. Significantly greater anti-F1- and -V-Ag-specific IgA and IgG AFC responses Bay 11-7085 were detected in each lymphoid tissue from LTN DNA-vaccinated mice compared to mice immunized with F1-Ag protein only. These AFC responses were detected not only in systemic and peripheral tissues, including spleens, PopLNs, and LLNs, but also in mucosal

tissues, HNLNs, NPs, and iLP. These results suggest that i.m. priming with LTN DNA vaccine followed by nasal F1-Ag boosts induced Ag-specific B lymphocytes in both the systemic and mucosal immune compartments. To assess the types of Th cell responses elicited by the DNA priming, cytokine-forming cell (CFC) responses were measured at 7 or 14 wks post-primary immunization by cytokine-specific ELISPOT. To evaluate the precise effects of LTN DNA vaccine priming when vaccines are given nasally and not affected by nasal F1-Ag protein boosts, the nasal immunization regimen was slightly modified, eliminating the nasal protein boosts, as previously done [25] and [31]. For Th cell evaluations for i.m.-immunized mice, the vaccination regimen was left unchanged, as in the Th cell analyses [25] and [31]. Lymphocytes from spleens, HNLNs, and PPs, which were obtained from LTN/F1-V DNA-vaccinated mice at 7 wks, were restimulated with F1-Ag, V-Ag, or media for 2 days (Fig. 8A).