Cross-subtype antibody and cellular immune responses induced by a polyvalent DNA prime–protein boost HIV-1 vaccine in healthy human volunteers

S Wang, JS Kennedy, K West, DC Montefiori, S Coley… - Vaccine, 2008 - Elsevier
S Wang, JS Kennedy, K West, DC Montefiori, S Coley, J Lawrence, S Shen, S Green…
Vaccine, 2008Elsevier
An optimally effective AIDS vaccine would likely require the induction of both neutralizing
antibody and cell-mediated immune responses, which has proven difficult to obtain in
previous clinical trials. Here we report on the induction of human immunodeficiency virus
type-1 (HIV-1)-specific immune responses in healthy adult volunteers that received the multi-
gene, polyvalent, DNA prime–protein boost HIV-1 vaccine formulation, DP6-001, in a Phase
I clinical trial conducted in healthy adult volunteers of both genders. Robust cross-subtype …
An optimally effective AIDS vaccine would likely require the induction of both neutralizing antibody and cell-mediated immune responses, which has proven difficult to obtain in previous clinical trials. Here we report on the induction of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1)-specific immune responses in healthy adult volunteers that received the multi-gene, polyvalent, DNA prime–protein boost HIV-1 vaccine formulation, DP6-001, in a Phase I clinical trial conducted in healthy adult volunteers of both genders. Robust cross-subtype HIV-1-specific T cell responses were detected in IFN-γ ELISPOT assays. Furthermore, we detected high titer serum antibody responses that recognized a wide range of primary HIV-1 Env antigens and also neutralized pseudotyped viruses that express the primary Env antigens from multiple HIV-1 subtypes. These findings demonstrate that the DNA prime–protein boost approach is an effective immunization method to elicit both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in humans, and that a polyvalent Env formulation could generate broad immune responses against HIV-1 viruses with diverse genetic backgrounds.
Elsevier