HIV variability and perspectives for a vaccine.
An overview of efforts to induce neutralizing antibodies in order to develop an effective vaccine against AIDS is presented. The principal Neutralizing Determinant (PND) on the HIV-1 envelope is described. PND variability and the induction of neutralizing antibodies by synthetic peptides representing PND are discussed. The use of a cocktail of different peptides representing the PND sequences of the majority of HIV-1 isolates, as well as the construction of hybrid immunogens containing PND of several viral isolates, could overcome the problems related to PND variability. A different approach based on the possibility of inducing a type of intracellular immunity is also discussed: a cellular clone (F12) obtained in our laboratory from Hut-78 cells infected with supernatant of cultured lymphocytes from an HIV-infected patient, does not release viral particles despite the presence of a full-length HIV-1 provirus. Moreover, F12 cells are fully resistant against superinfection with any HIV-1 or HIV-2 isolates. We are now attempting to reproduce the homologous viral interference by transferring the F12/HIV genome of the clone into HIV-susceptible cells in order to render these cells resistant to HIV infection.
Verani
P
P
Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Buttò
S
S
Taddeo
B
B
Federico
M
M
Rossi
G B
GB
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D011533:Proviruses / Q000502:physiology; D014762:Viral Interference
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D010446:Peptide Fragments