AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, June 9, 2003
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer

"A single inoculation of herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) amplicon vectors encoding human immunodeficiency virus type-1 gp120 (HSV:gp120) results in robust, specific immune responses to gp120," explained Xiuqing Wang and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York and the University of California at Davis.

These vaccines work even better as part of a prime-boost regimen including gp120 plasmid DNA, Wang and coauthors found.

The researchers assessed the efficacy of priming vaccine recipients with naked amplicon plasmid DNA before immunization with packaged gp120-expressing amplicon particles. TetrAm analysis showed that this approach significantly increased HIV-specific T-cell activity compared to HSV:gp120 vaccination alone, they said.

The utility of sequential treatment with HSV:gp120 was also evaluated. An additional immunization augmented vaccine-induced T-cell activity by as much as 10-fold, study data showed.

DNA priming further enhanced the cellular immune responses elicited by sequential HSV:gp120 vaccinations (Cellular immune responses to helper-free HSV-1 amplicon particles encoding HIV-1 gp120 are enhanced by DNA priming. Vaccine. 2003 Jun 2;21(19-20):2288-97.

"Collectively, these results demonstrate the utility of HSV amplicon vectors in prime-boost regimens for HIV vaccine development," Wang and colleagues concluded.

The corresponding author for this report is Stephen Dewhurst, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.

Key points reported in this study include:

• DNA priming improves the performance of a herpes simplex virus (HSV)-based HIV vaccine

• HSV amplicon vectors coding for HIV gp120 were effective in animals

• HIV-specific T-cell activity induced by this vaccine were enhanced by sequential administration and/or priming with naked amplicon plasmid gp120 DNA

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Wang X, Wiley RD, Evans TG, et al., "Cellular immune responses to helper-free HSV-1 amplicon particles encoding HIV-1 gp120 are enhanced by DNA priming", Vaccine. 2003 Jun 2;21(19-20):2288-97.

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