Vaccination with Vaxfectin(®) Adjuvanted SIV DNA Induces Long-lasting Humoral Immune Responses Able to Reduce SIVmac251 Viremia

Overview

Journal Hum Vaccin Immunother

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2013 Jul 4

PMID 23820294

Citations 9

Authors

Viraj Kulkarni

Margherita Rosati

Antonio Valentin

Rashmi Jalah

Candido Alicea

Lei Yu

Yongjun Guan

Xiaoying Shen

Georgia D Tomaras

Celia LaBranche

David C Montefiori

Carmela Irene

Rajasekhar Prattipati

Abraham Pinter

Sean M Sullivan

George N Pavlakis

Barbara K Felber

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We evaluated the immunogenicity and efficacy of Vaxfectin(®) adjuvanted SIV DNA vaccines in mice and macaques. Vaccination of mice with Vaxfectin(®) adjuvanted SIV gag DNA induced higher humoral immune responses than administration of unadjuvanted DNA, whereas similar levels of cellular immunity were elicited. Vaxfectin(®) adjuvanted SIVmac251 gag and env DNA immunization of rhesus macaques was used to examine magnitude, durability, and efficacy of humoral immunity. Vaccinated macaques elicited potent neutralizing antibodies able to cross-neutralize the heterologous SIVsmE660 Env. We found remarkable durability of Gag and Env humoral responses, sustained during ~2 y of follow-up. The Env-specific antibody responses induced by Vaxfectin(®) adjuvanted env DNA vaccination disseminated into mucosal tissues, as demonstrated by their presence in saliva, including responses to the V1-V2 region, and rectal fluids. The efficacy of the immune responses was evaluated upon intrarectal challenge with low repeated dose SIVmac251. Although 2 of the 3 vaccinees became infected, these animals showed significantly lower peak virus loads and lower chronic viremia than non-immunized infected controls. Thus, Vaxfectin(®) adjuvanted DNA is a promising vaccine approach for inducing potent immune responses able to control the highly pathogenic SIVmac251.

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