title: Efficiency of recombinant bacille Calmette-Guérin in inducing humoral and cell mediated immunities against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 third variable domain in immunized mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The third variable (V3) loop of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein has been intensively studied for AIDS vaccine development. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is widely used to immunize against tuberculosis and has many advantages as a vaccine vehicle, such as low toxicity, adjuvant potential, low cost, and long-lasting immune-inducing capacity. This work was initiated to investigate the immunogenicity of recombinant BCG (rBCG-mV3) designed to express trimeric HIV-1 V3 loop (mV3) in rBCG-mV3-immunized animals.
  
  
  METHODS
  HIV-1 V3-concatamer was cloned into pMV261, a BCG-expression vector, and then rBCG-mV3 was constructed by introducing the recombinant plasmid (pMV-V3). The recombinant BCG was examined with regard to its expression of V3-concatamer and the genetic stability in vivo and in vitro. The immune responses induced by recombinant BCG were tested in immunized mice and guinea pigs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The rBCG-mV3 expressed detectable amounts of V3-concatamer when induced by single heat-shock. The recombinant BCG was genetically stable and maintained the introduced mV3 gene for several weeks. V3-specific antibodies were clearly detected 6 weeks after inoculation. The antibody titer rapidly increased after immunization up to 10 weeks, and then maintained for over 4 weeks. IgG2a was prevalent in the V3-specific antiserum. The recombinant BCG was also effective in inducing delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in the immunized guinea pigs. rBCG-immunized mice retained substantial amounts of V3-specific T cells in the spleen, even 5 months after the first immunization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recombinant BCG-mV3 is very efficient in inducing humoral and long-lasting cell-mediated immunity against HIV-1 V3 in the immunized animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Masan Samsung Hospital, 50 Hapseong 2-dong, Masan 630-723, Korea. kyj7514@unitel.co.kr
authors.forename: Young Jae
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D056724:Immunity, Humoral / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D001500:BCG Vaccine; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus