CD8+ T-cells: Are They Sufficient to Prevent, Contain or Eradicate HIV-1 Infection?

Abstract

The prevention of HIV-1 by vaccination has proven to be a formidable task. In an ongoing endeavor to end the HIV-1 pandemic, scientists seek vaccines that will elicit quantitatively and qualitatively robust B-cell and T-cell activities. Given that cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) play a substantial role in the immunological control of immunodeficiency virus infections, this review will focus on vaccines designed to elicit HIV-1-specific CTL. Vaccine approaches using various HIV-1 proteins or specific CTL determinants, partnered with diverse delivery systems and adjuvants will be discussed. Lessons from studies with other virus models (e.g. gamma herpes virus and influenza virus) will also be examined. Since CTL contribute to the success of vaccines in other model systems, an understanding of the strengths and possible limitations of these cells may be critical to future successes in the HIV-1 vaccine field.

Env-Expressing Autologous T Lymphocytes Induce Neutralizing Antibody and Afford Marked Protection against Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

“…5). These findings were corroborated by quantitative FIV isolation performed, as previously described (43), at 3 months p.c., revealing numbers of infectious units ranging between 1 and 100 infectious units per 10 6 PBMCs, and by the prompt immune responses to FIV that developed (Fig. 6 and data not shown).…”

“…Furthermore, passively infused neutralizing antibodies (NA) (28,42,51) or endogenously expressed NA derivatives (29) have been shown to provide protection against intravenous simian immunodeficiency virus challenge. On the other hand, data from several vaccine experiments suggest that cellular immunity is an important factor for protection (6,32). Therefore, while immune protection against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other lentiviruses appears feasible, the strategies for eliciting it remain elusive.…”

HIV-1 Tat-Based Vaccines: An Overview and Perspectives in the Field of HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development

“…[63][64][65][66][67]. These strategies based on recombinant proteins, DNA plasmids, or expression vectors have proven to be effective in controlling viremia and progression to AIDS in non-human primates [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75]. Nevertheless, evidence indicates that the targeting of T-cell responses on immunodominant epitopes can facilitate the insurgence of viral mutants that escape the vaccineinduced immune control [76,77].…”

Harnessing Natural Mosaics: Antibody-Instructed, Multi-Envelope HIV-1 Vaccine Design

“…Endogenous antigen expression, in turn, supports the robust activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that provide a fail-safe mechanism by clearing virus-infected cells if/when antibodies are not fully protective. The situation differs from that of subunit vaccines that require antigen cross-presentation to trigger CTLs [ 86 , 87 ] and that generally elicit relatively weak CTL responses. mRNA and live viral vaccines associate with durable immune responses that can persist for months, years, or decades [ 17 , 25 , 88 , 89 ].…”