JGV Direct - Construction and immunogenicity of SFV.HIVA in mice (T. Hanke and others)

								ARTICLE ABSTRACT
								DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.18738-0
								Online 29 October 2002

Construction and immunogenicity in a prime–boost regimen of a Semliki Forest virus-vectored experimental human immunodeficiency virus clade A vaccine

Tomá Hanke,¹ Christina Barnfield,² Edmund G.-T. Wee,¹ Lena Ågren,² Rachel V. Samuel,¹ Natasha Larke¹ and Peter Liljeström²

¹MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, The John Radcliffe, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
²Microbiology and Tumorbiology Center, Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, S-17177 Stockholm, Sweden

A novel, experimental subunit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine, SFV.HIVA, was constructed. This consists of Semliki Forest virus (SFV), which is a suitable vaccine vector for use in humans, and a passenger gene encoding HIVA, which is an immunogen derived from HIV-1 clade A that is being currently tested in clinical trials of combined DNA- and modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-vectored vaccines in Oxford (UK) and Nairobi (Kenya). In the mouse, the SFV.HIVA vaccine was highly immunogenic for T cell-mediated immune responses and induced T cell memory that lasted for at least 6 months. SFV.HIVA was also compared to the vaccines currently used in the clinical trials and was shown to be as effective in T cell induction as pTHr.HIVA DNA but less immunogenic than MVA.HIVA. When tested in a prime-boost regimen, SFV.HIVA-induced responses could be boosted by MVA.HIVA. This work is a part of a long-term effort to build a panel of subunit vaccines expressing a common immunogen, which will allow both a direct comparison of various vaccine vectors and combined vaccination regimens in humans and provide more flexibility and/or a potential optimization of vaccinations for individuals based on their pre-existing anti-vector immunity.

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This article is now available in the February 2003 print issue of JGV (vol. 84, 361–368). Thereafter it will be available in electronic form on JGV Online.