They found that the alphavirus - based vaccine confers immunity to influenza comparable to a conventional DNA vaccine, but requires up to 1000-fold less DNA. (sciencemag.org)
To minimize the amount of DNA in a flu vaccine, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, turned to an alphavirus called Semliki Forest Virus (SFV). (sciencemag.org)
In test - tube experiments with hamster cells, the DNA vaccine created mRNA that both copied itself like it would in the alphavirus and produced antigen. (sciencemag.org)