FIG. 8.

Survival curves and time courses of postchallenge immune responses in BALB/c mice immunized with plasmids encoding a subset of the JE virus prM/E cassette. Mice were immunized with 100 μg of pcDNA3JEprM (prM), pcDNA3JEE1/2 (E1/2), pcDNA3JEE2/2 (E2/2), pcDNA3JEME (prM/E), or pcDNA3 (none) at 6 and 8 weeks of age and were challenged at 12 weeks of age. Sera collected 2 day before challenge and 4, 8, and 21 days after challenge were pooled and measured for neutralizing (NEUT) antibody and IgG and IgM antibodies to prM/E by ELISA (see Materials and Methods for details). In a group of mice immunized with pcDNA3JEME, one mouse died accidentally upon being given anesthesia, and all evaluations were done with two mice.