title: HIV vaccine candidates generate in vitro T cell response to putative epitopes in Chinese-origin rhesus macaques.
abstract: The Indian rhesus macaque is the established animal model for HIV infection and vaccine research. Growing evidence suggests that the more readily available Chinese rhesus macaque may be a more relevant option. As increasing numbers of novel Chinese rhesus MHC alleles are reported, we decided to explore potential HIV vaccine epitopes in this model. We immunized forty Chinese rhesus macaques with three different HIV vaccine candidates either individually or following a prime/boost strategy. We used ELISPOT to measure immune response in vitro to HIV-1 p24C and HIV-1 gp160 peptide libraries. We identified five putative epitopes with associations to HLA-I alleles including HLA*B-2705 and HLA-B*5101 (associated with slow disease progression and low viral set point) and HLA-B*18 (associated with rapid disease progression and high viral set point). This suggests the possible use of Chinese rhesus macaques to model different disease progressions. We also explored the use of fusion proteins as stimulators in ELISPOT assays. While PBMCs from 6 monkeys responded to peptide stimulation, PBMCs from 28 monkeys responded to the anthrax lethal factor fusion proteins LFn p24C and/or LFn gp140C. Our results support the use of Chinese rhesus macaques in HIV vaccine studies.
authors.affiliation: Vaccine Laboratory, NanKai University, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Amie J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Strong
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yanhou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Touzjian
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Zhongfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yichen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D058501:Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D019151:Peptide Library; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000939:Epitopes; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D019151:Peptide Library; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D054299:env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C097729:gp140 envelope protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; C514799:p24 protein, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1