Clinical development of intramuscular electroporation: providing a "boost" for DNA vaccines.

The development of effective vaccines has helped to eradicate or control the spread of numerous infectious diseases. However, there are many more diseases that have proved more difficult to eliminate using conventional vaccines. The recent innovation of DNA vaccines may provide a "boost" to the development efforts. While the early efforts of DNA vaccines in the clinic were disappointing, the use of in vivo electroporation has helped to provide some basis for optimism. Now, there are several ongoing clinical studies of vaccines against such diseases as malaria, HIV, hepatitis C, and even various types of cancer. This review will highlight three recently published clinical studies using intramuscular DNA administration with electroporation.