A 2-year follow-up of an anti-HIV immune reaction in HIV-1 GP160-immunized heathly sero negative humans: Evidence for persistent cell-mediated immunity.
Picard O, Achour A, Bernard J, Albreich A, Bizzini B, Boyer V, Desgranges C, Bertho JM, Lachgar A, Poliotti B, Defer MC, Lanneval K, Imbert JC, Frottier J, Salaun JJ, Burny A, Zagury D.
J. AIDS, Volume 5, Issue 6, 1992, Pages 539-546
The first trial of an anti-HIV immunization, using a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing gp160 (rV) for priming and paraformaldehyde-fixed rV- infected PBLs and soluble gp160 for boosting, clearly showed an in vitro HIV- protective immune reaction. This result led us to carry out an additional 2 year Phase I clinical trial in 25 HIV-seronegative volunteers, using HIV gp160 antigens for immunization in four different protocols. The 2 year trial showed (a) the safety of the preparations, (b) a transient humoral immunity following each boost, and (c) a long-lasting memory T-cell response. Memory cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) induced by gp160 antigen with or without vaccinia vector lysed HLA class I restricted target cells expressing HIV-1 env antigens. These results are consistent with CTLs being an effective component of an AIDS vaccine to control cell-to-cell viral replication, dissemination in the organism, and subsequent evolution toward AIDS.