Broad HIV-1 inhibition in vitro by vaccine-elicited CD8(+) T cells in African adults.

Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2016
Authors
Mutua, Gaudensia; Farah, Bashir; Langat, Robert; Indangasi, Jackton; Ogola, Simon; Onsembe, Brian; Kopycinski, Jakub T; Hayes, Peter; Borthwick, Nicola J; Ashraf, Ambreen; Dally, Len; Barin, Burc; Tillander, Annika; Gilmour, Jill; De Bont, Jan; Crook, Alison; Hannaman, Drew; Cox, Josephine H; Anzala, Omu; Fast, Patricia E; Reilly, Marie; Chinyenze, Kundai; Jaoko, Walter; Hanke, Tomáš; Hiv-Core 004 Study Group, The
Secondary
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev
Volume
3
Pagination
16061
Date Published
2016
Abstract

We are developing a pan-clade HIV-1 T-cell vaccine HIVconsv, which could complement Env vaccines for prophylaxis and be a key to HIV cure. Our strategy focuses vaccine-elicited effector T-cells on functionally and structurally conserved regions (not full-length proteins and not only epitopes) of the HIV-1 proteome, which are common to most global variants and which, if mutated, cause a replicative fitness loss. Our first clinical trial in low risk HIV-1-negative adults in Oxford demonstrated the principle that naturally mostly subdominant epitopes, when taken out of the context of full-length proteins/virus and delivered by potent regimens involving combinations of simian adenovirus and poxvirus modified vaccinia virus Ankara, can induce robust CD8(+) T cells of broad specificities and functions capable of inhibiting in vitro HIV-1 replication. Here and for the first time, we tested this strategy in low risk HIV-1-negative adults in Africa. We showed that the vaccines were well tolerated and induced high frequencies of broadly HIVconsv-specific plurifunctional T cells, which inhibited in vitro viruses from four major clades A, B, C, and D. Because sub-Saharan Africa is globally the region most affected by HIV-1/AIDS, trial HIV-CORE 004 represents an important stage in the path toward efficacy evaluation of this highly rational and promising vaccine strategy.