Discussion
Our previous studies have demonstrated that the ag85a/b DNA vaccine had significant efficacy in the treatment of the TB model, which could induce a Th1-type immune response, and reduce the number of viable bacteria in organs and the degree of organ lesions (28, 31). The vaccines containing ag85 complexes constructed by other researchers also showed good therapeutic effects on MTB infection(39, 40). However, the current research on vaccines containing ag85 antigens mainly focused on protective or therapeutic efficacies, and the research on their mechanism was mainly limited to the adaptive immune response of the host, and the target and mechanism of protection and immunotherapy with ag85 vaccine have not been studied through system biology. This study analyzed the effect of different doses of ag85a/b DNA vaccine IM or EP immunization on PBMC gene transcriptome by gene expression profiling, and clarified for the first time that ag85a/b DNA vaccine had a significant recovery effect on abnormal gene expression and regulatory pathway changes caused by MTB infection, and further revealed the target and mechanism of action of ag85a/b DNA vaccine. The exploration of a therapeutic DNA vaccine for tuberculosis may provide a new host-directed therapy for the clinic.