Since the first
DNA vaccine studies were done in the 1990s, thousands more studies have followed. Here we report the development and analysis of DNAVaxDB (http://www.violinet.org/dnavaxdb), the first publically available web-based
DNA vaccine database that curates, stores, and analyzes experimentally verified
DNA vaccines,
DNA vaccine plasmid vectors, and protective
antigens used in
DNA vaccines. All data in DNAVaxDB are annotated from reliable resources, particularly peer-reviewed articles. Among over 140
DNA vaccine plasmids, some plasmids were more frequently used in one type of pathogen than others; for example, pCMVi-UB for G-
bacterial DNA vaccines, and pCAGGS for
viral DNA vaccines. Presently, over 400
DNA vaccines containing over 370 protective
antigens from over 90 infectious and
non-infectious diseases have been curated in DNAVaxDB. While extracellular and bacterial
cell surface proteins and adhesin
proteins were frequently used for
DNA vaccine development, the majority of protective
antigens used in Chlamydophila
DNA vaccines are localized to the inner portion of the cell. The
DNA vaccine priming, other
vaccine boosting vaccination regimen has been widely used to induce protection against
infection of different pathogens such as HIV. Parasitic and
cancer DNA vaccines were also systematically analyzed. User-friendly web query and visualization interfaces are available in DNAVaxDB for interactive data search. To support data exchange, the information of
DNA vaccines, plasmids, and protective
antigens is stored in the
Vaccine Ontology (VO). DNAVaxDB is targeted to become a timely and vital source of
DNA vaccines and related data and facilitate advanced
DNA vaccine research and development.