Vaccine-induced cytotoxic T lymphocytes protect against retroviral challenge.
The development of prophylactic vaccines against retroviral diseases has been impeded by the lack of obvious immune correlates for protection. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL), CD4-lymphocyteS, chemokine and/or antibody responses have all been associated with protection against HIV and AIDS; however, effective and safe vaccination strategies remain elusive. Here we show that vaccination with a minimal ovine CTL peptide epitope identified within gp51 of the retrovirus bovine leukemia virus (BLV), consistently induced peptide-specific CTLs. Only sheep whose CTLs were also capable of recognizing retrovirus-infected cells were fully protected when challenged with BLV. This retrovirus displays limited sequence variation; thus, in the relative absence of confounding CTL escape variants, virus-specific CTLs targeting a single epitope were able to prevent the establishment of a latent retroviral infection.
The Co-operative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology, The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, PO Royal Brisbane Hospital, Australia.
A D
AD
Hislop
M F
MF
Good
L
L
Mateo
J
J
Gardner
M H
MH
Gatei
R C
RC
Daniel
B V
BV
Meyers
M F
MF
Lavin
A
A
Suhrbier
D000818:Animals; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D017735:Virus Latency
D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines