A schematic diagram of the HIV-1 clade A (HIVA) immunogen.

<p>The HIVA protein consists of consensus amino acid sequences of clade A p24 and p17 Gag and a string of partially overlapping CD8⁺ T-cell epitopes identified in chronically infected individuals [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0078289#B23" target="_blank">23</a>]. Pool P90 of 15-mer peptides overlapping by 11 amino acids across the Gag portion is shown below the protein. Pool P9 consisted of known CD8⁺ T-cell epitope peptides derived from the polyepitope region.</p

MVA.HIVA-elicited weak T-cell responses in fresh IFN-γ ELISPOT assay.

<p>The net fresh <i>ex-vivo</i> ELISPOT frequencies of IFN-γ-producing cells (mean of stimulated wells minus mean of negative control wells) to HIVA peptide pools P9 and P90 at all 4 bleed time points for the control (Con) and vaccinated (Vac) groups are shown. The p value for the only statistically significant difference between the two groups after Bonferroni correction is given. The median ‘mock’ no-peptide background response across all wells on plates that passed QC was 5 SFU/10⁶ PBMC (IQ range 0-20), and median PHA response was 1,850 SFU/10⁶ PBMC (IQ range 1,065- 2,960).</p

Trial Profile.

<p>Diagram indicating the numbers of infants screened and followed up throughout the study.</p