Development of a candidate DNA/MVA HIV-1 subtype C vaccine for India.
Development of a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) is the mainstay for controlling the AIDS pandemic. An ideal HIV vaccine should induce neutralizing antibodies, CD4+ helper T cells, and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. While the induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies remains a highly challenging goal, there are a number of technologies capable of inducing potent cell-mediated responses in animal models, which are now starting to be tested in humans. Naked DNA immunization is one of them. The present study focuses on the stimulation cell-mediated and humoral immune responses by recombinant DNA-MVA vaccines, the areas where this technology might assist either alone or as a part of more complex vaccine formulations in the HIV vaccine development. Candidate recombinant DNA-MVA vaccine formulations expressing the human immunodeficiency virus-1 env and gagprotease genes from HIV-1 Indian subtype C were constructed and characterized. A high level of expression of the respective recombinant MVA (rMVA) constructs was demonstrated in BHK-21 cells followed by the robust humoral as well as cell mediated immune (CMI) responses in terms of magnitude and breadth. The response to a single inoculation of the rDNA vaccine was boosted efficiently by rMVA in BALB/c mice. This is the first reported candidate HIV-1 DNA/MVA vaccine employing the Indian subtype C sequences and constitutes a part of a vaccine scheduled to enter a preclinical non-human primate evaluation in India.
Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India.
Sanjeev
S
Kumar
Priya
P
Aggarwal
Madhu
M
Vajpayee
R M
RM
Pandey
Pradeep
P
Seth
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D019444:Vaccines, DNA