Immune responses of mice to prime-boost vaccination with the recombinant DNA and Fowlpox virus both expressing HIV-2 Gag-gp105

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency viruses 1 and 2 (HIV-1, 2) present a public health problem for which there is neither an effective antiviral therapy nor a preventive vaccine. In this study, the immune responses of mice to prime-boost vaccination with the recombinant DNA (rDNA) and recombinant Fowlpox virus (rFPV) both expressing HIV-2 Gag-gp105 chimeric protein, were compared to those elicited by each vector alone. Mice primed with the rDNA and boosted with the rFPV showed HIV-2-specific antibody levels, splenic CD4 + and CD8 + T-lymphocyte numbers, and Gag-gp105-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) activity increased by 20-30% as compared with those elicited by these vaccines alone. These findings suggested that the prime-boost strategy combining rDNA and rFPV elicited significant Gag-gp105-specific cellular and humoral immune responses, thus supporting this novel approach to the immunization against HIV infections.

Immunogenicity analysis following human immunodeficiency virus recombinant DNA and recombinant vaccinia virus Tian Tan prime-boost immunization

“…In the current study, rDNA and attenuated vaccinia virus Tian Tan (VTT) vector vaccines were constructed using the antigen MEGNp24 developed previously [5,12,38]. Two important molecular adjuvants, CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) and cholera toxin subunit B (CTB), were combined with the vaccines to further enhance immunogenicity.…”

“…Designing and developing of an effective preventive or therapeutic AIDS vaccine has been a great challenge to public health and scientific research. Recent studies in AIDS vaccine development have involved using (i) vaccine vectors, such as modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) [1,2], New York vaccinia (NYVAC) [3], fowlpox virus (FPV) [4,5], and Ad5 [6,7], (ii) various human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) immunogens, such as gp120 [8], env [9], tat [10], HIV multiple epitopes [11][12][13], and multi-genes [14,15], or (iii) different immunization routes and strategies [16,17]. Since the first AIDS vaccine trial in 1987, more than 230 vaccine trials have been conducted [18].…”