1. Efficient expansion of HIV-1-specific T cell responses by homologous immunization with recombinant Semliki Forest virus particles.
- Author
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Sundbäck M, Douagi I, Dayaraj C, Forsell MN, Nordström EK, McInerney GM, Spångberg K, Tjäder L, Bonin E, Sundström M, Liljeström P, and Karlsson Hedestam GB
- Subjects
- AIDS Vaccines administration & dosage, Animals, Antibodies, Viral blood, Cytokines analysis, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, HIV Antibodies blood, HIV Antigens genetics, HIV Antigens immunology, HIV Infections prevention & control, Immunization, Secondary, Immunoglobulin G blood, Interferon-gamma analysis, Mice, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Models, Animal, Neutralization Tests, Vaccines, Synthetic administration & dosage, AIDS Vaccines immunology, HIV Infections immunology, HIV-1 immunology, Semliki forest virus genetics, Semliki forest virus immunology, T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic immunology, Vaccines, Synthetic immunology
- Abstract
Vaccines based on recombinant viruses represent a promising strategy for the development of a prophylactic vaccine against HIV-1. However, despite a proven capacity to stimulate potent HIV-1-specific immune responses, viral systems have limited utility in homologous prime-boost regimens due to the generation of anti-vector immune responses. It is therefore important to develop a diverse set of vaccine candidates that can be combined in different heterologous prime-boost regimens and/or to identify a vaccine candidate that is less sensitive to anti-vector mediated immunity. In this report, we describe the design and pre-clinical immunogenicity of a Semliki Forest virus-based vaccine, VREP-C, encoding Indian origin HIV-1 clade C antigens. We show that a single immunization with VREP-C stimulates HIV-1-specific IFNgamma ELISPOT responses, which were efficiently boosted by a second and a third homologous VREP-C immunization resulting in highly potent cytotoxic T cell responses. These results suggest that VREP-C may be a valuable component of a future prophylactic vaccine against HIV-1.
- Published
- 2005
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