2014-08-13 Progress Report
Aldevron
Aldevron posted about offering "open-source" vectors on facebook. Aldevron links to their plasmid page, which offers 2µg of two "plasmids for vaccine validation" for free! Awesome!
pCMV-S (also known as pRc/CMV-HBs) is widely used to validate DNA vaccine delivery and formulation strategies. This plasmid expresses the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) under the control of the CMV immediate-early promoter. pCMVHB-S2.S expresses the small and middle forms of recombinant HBsAg. The plasmid can be used to generate anti-HBsAg antibodies like pCMV-S. It is also used to fuse other sequences to the S form of HBsAg.
pVAX1
The pVAX1 technical specification document says you can find the sequence online. It also says that pVAX1 is based on pcDNA
pVAX1™ was constructed by modifying the vector, pcDNA™3.1, to accommodate the following considerations put forth by the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) in its document, “Points to Consider on Plasmid DNA Vaccines for Preventive Infectious Diseases Indications” (Docket no. 96N-0400). - Sequences not necessary for replication in E. coli or for expression of recombinant protein in mammalian cells were removed to limit DNA sequences with possible homology to the human genome and to minimize the possibility of chromosomal integration. - The kanamycin resistance gene was substituted for the ampicillin resistance gene because aminoglycoside antibiotics are less likely to elicit allergic responses in humans.
A database of DNA vaccines, DNAVaxDB shows pcDNA3.1 as the most commonly used vector, but pVAX1 is also popular.
BioBricks
BioBricks has some plasmid backbones but nothing obviously useful as a DNA vaccine vector.