title: Immunization of HIV-infected patients with rgp160: modulation of anti-rgp120 antibody spectrotype.
abstract: HIV-1 infection results in progressive failure of the immune system with decline in the number and/or function of B-cell clones originally recruited in specific humoral responses. Spectrotypic analysis, done by isoelectric focusing and reverse blotting (IEF-RB), is one technique for evaluating the activity and the number of specific B-cell clones and is adaptable to the direct measurement of antibodies to conformationally intact epitopes. The anti-HIV-1 (IIIB) rgp120 spectrotype was measured in 30 early-stage HIV-infected volunteers undergoing vaccine therapy with recombinant gp160 (rgp160). Twenty-five of the patients displayed a clear oligoclonal banding pattern; seven (28%) showed the same pattern in all samples, while 18 (72%) showed changes. Ten of the latter had an increase in band intensity over the course of immunization, and eight had an increase in both band intensity and number of bands. In contrast, serum samples from eight patients receiving placebo (alum) showed no changes over a comparable period. These findings suggest that vaccine therapy with rgp160 may be able to expand the anti-HIV-1 (LAI) gp120 B-cell clone pool in some HIV-infected patients as well as increase antibody synthesis by established B-cell clones recruited during natural infection. These data provide further evidence that postinfection vaccination may provide an alternative strategy in the treatment of chronic viral diseases.
authors.affiliation: Division of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Biselli
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Loomis
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Del Bono
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Redfield
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Birx
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000328:Adult; D003720:Densitometry; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000276:immunology*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology*; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D015151:Immunoblotting; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active; D007525:Isoelectric Focusing; D008875:Middle Aged; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D011498:Protein Precursors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic