29 research outputs found
Immunization with Cocktail of HIV-Derived Peptides in Montanide ISA-51 Is Immunogenic, but Causes Sterile Abscesses and Unacceptable Reactogenicity
BACKGROUND: A peptide vaccine was produced containing B and T cell epitopes from the V3 and C4 Envelope domains of 4 subtype B HIV-1 isolates (MN, RF, CanO, & Ev91). The peptide mixture was formulated as an emulsion in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA). METHODS: Low-risk, healthy adult subjects were enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled dose-escalation study, and selected using criteria specifying that 50% in each study group would be HLA-B7+. Immunizations were scheduled at 0, 1, and 6 months using a total peptide dose of 1 or 4 mg. Adaptive immune responses in16 vaccine recipients and two placebo recipients after the 2nd immunization were evaluated using neutralization assays of sera, as well as ELISpot and ICS assays of cryopreserved PBMCs to assess CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses. In addition, (51)Cr release assays were performed on fresh PBMCs following 14-day stimulation with individual vaccine peptide antigens. RESULTS: 24 subjects were enrolled; 18 completed 2 injections. The study was prematurely terminated because 4 vaccinees developed prolonged pain and sterile abscess formation at the injection site-2 after dose 1, and 2 after dose 2. Two other subjects experienced severe systemic reactions consisting of headache, chills, nausea, and myalgia. Both reactions occurred after the second 4 mg dose. The immunogenicity assessments showed that 6/8 vaccinees at each dose level had detectable MN-specific neutralizing (NT) activity, and 2/7 HLA-B7+ vaccinees had classical CD8 CTL activity detected. However, using both ELISpot and ICS, 8/16 vaccinees (5/7 HLA-B7+) and 0/2 controls had detectable vaccine-specific CD8 T-cell responses. Subjects with moderate or severe systemic or local reactions tended to have more frequent T cell responses and higher antibody responses than those with mild or no reactions. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of local responses related to the formulation of these four peptides in IFA is clinically unacceptable for continued development. Both HIV-specific antibody and T cell responses were induced and the magnitude of response correlated with the severity of local and systemic reactions. If potent adjuvants are necessary for subunit vaccines to induce broad and durable immune responses, careful, incremental clinical evaluation is warranted to minimize the risk of adverse events. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00000886
Inhibition of Casein kinase-2 induces p53-dependent cell cycle arrest and sensitizes glioblastoma cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNFα)-induced apoptosis through SIRT1 inhibition
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are resistant to TNFα-induced apoptosis and blockade of TNFα-induced NF-κB activation sensitizes glioma cells to apoptosis. As Casein kinase-2 (CK2) induces aberrant NF-κB activation and as we observed elevated CK2 levels in GBM tumors, we investigated the potential of CK2 inhibitors (CK2-Is) - DRB and Apigenin in sensitizing glioma cells to TNFα-induced apoptosis. CK2-Is and CK2 small interfering RNA (siRNA) reduced glioma cell viability, inhibited TNFα-mediated NF-κB activation, and sensitized cell to TNFα-induced apoptosis. Importantly, CK2-Is activated p53 function in wild-type but not in p53 mutant cells. Activation of p53 function involved its increased transcriptional activation, DNA-binding ability, increased expression of p53 target genes associated with cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Moreover, CK2-Is decreased telomerase activity and increased senescence in a p53-dependent manner. Apoptotic gene profiling indicated that CK2-Is differentially affect p53 and TNFα targets in p53 wild-type and mutant glioma cells. CK2-I decreased MDM2-p53 association and p53 ubiquitination to enhance p53 levels. Interestingly, CK2-Is downregulated SIRT1 activity and over-expression of SIRT1 decreased p53 transcriptional activity and rescued cells from CK2-I-induced apoptosis. This ability of CK2-Is to sensitize glioma to TNFα-induced death via multiple mechanisms involving abrogation of NF-κB activation, reactivation of wild-type p53 function and SIRT1 inhibition warrants investigation
Dual Neonate Vaccine Platform against HIV-1 and M. tuberculosis
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and tuberculosis (TB) are two of the
world's most devastating diseases. The first vaccine the majority of
infants born in Africa receive is Mycobacterium bovis bacillus
Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as a prevention against TB. BCG protects against
disseminated disease in the first 10 years of life, but provides a variable
protection against pulmonary TB and enhancing boost delivered by recombinant
modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA) expressing antigen 85A (Ag85A) of
M. tuberculosis is currently in phase IIb evaluation in
African neonates. If the newborn's mother is positive for human
immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the baby is at high risk of acquiring
HIV-1 through breastfeeding. We suggested that a vaccination consisting of
recombinant BCG expressing HIV-1 immunogen administered at birth followed by a
boost with rMVA sharing the same immunogen could serve as a strategy for
prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 and rMVA expressing an
African HIV-1-derived immunogen HIVA is currently in phase I trials in African
neonates. Here, we aim to develop a dual neonate vaccine platform against HIV-1
and TB consisting of BCG.HIVA administered at birth followed by a boost with
MVA.HIVA.85A. Thus, mMVA.HIVA.85A and sMVA.HIVA.85A vaccines were constructed,
in which the transgene transcription is driven by either modified H5 or short
synthetic promoters, respectively, and tested for immunogenicity alone and in
combination with BCG.HIVA222. mMVA.HIVA.85A was produced markerless
and thus suitable for clinical manufacture. While sMVA.HIVA.85A expressed higher
levels of the immunogens, it was less immunogenic than mMVA.HIVA.85A in BALB/c
mice. A BCG.HIVA222–mMVA.HIVA.85A prime-boost regimen induced
robust T cell responses to both HIV-1 and M. tuberculosis.
Therefore, proof-of-principle for a dual anti-HIV-1/M.
tuberculosis infant vaccine platform is established. Induction of
immune responses against these pathogens soon after birth is highly desirable
and may provide a basis for lifetime protection maintained by boosts later in
life
The role of neutralizing antibodies in prevention of HIV-1 infection: what can we learn from the mother-to-child transmission context?
International audienceIn most viral infections, protection through existing vaccines is linked to the presence of vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). However, more than 30Â years after the identification of AIDS, the design of an immunogen able to induce antibodies that would neutralize the highly diverse HIV-1 variants remains one of the most puzzling challenges of the human microbiology. The role of antibodies in protection against HIV-1 can be studied in a natural situation that is the mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) context. Indeed, at least at the end of pregnancy, maternal antibodies of the IgG class are passively transferred to the fetus protecting the neonate from new infections during the first weeks or months of life. During the last few years, strong data, presented in this review, have suggested that some NAbs might confer protection toward neonatal HIV-1 infection. In cases of transmission, it has been shown that the viral population that is transmitted from the mother to the infant is usually homogeneous, genetically restricted and resistant to the maternal HIV-1-specific antibodies. Although the breath of neutralization was not associated with protection, it has not been excluded that NAbs toward specific HIV-1 strains might be associated with a lower rate of MTCT. A better identification of the antibody specificities that could mediate protection toward MTCT of HIV-1 would provide important insights into the antibody responses that would be useful for vaccine development. The most convincing data suggesting that NAbs migh confer protection against HIV-1 infection have been obtained by experiments of passive immunization of newborn macaques with the first generation of human monoclonal broadly neutralizing antibodies (HuMoNAbs). However, these studies, which included only a few selected subtype B challenge viruses, provide data limited to protection against a very restricted number of isolates and therefore have limitations in addressing the hypervariability of HIV-1. The recent identification of highly potent second-generation cross-clade HuMoNAbs provides a new opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of passive immunization to prevent MTCT of HIV-1
The landscape of targeted immune responses in the HIV-1 vaccine field.
HIV-1 vaccine development is rapidly advancing numerous diverse vaccine candidates based on a variety of hypotheses about what contributes to protective HIV-1 immunity (1–3). It is common to differentiate vaccine candidates as being antibody-based, T-cell-based, or both, which is a useful classification, but it does not provide enough granularity to capture the multiple complementing hypotheses regarding the contribution of particular immune responses to protection against HIV-
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Dramatic rise in plasma viremia after CD8(+) T cell depletion in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques.
To determine the role of CD8(+) T cells in controlling simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication in vivo, we examined the effect of depleting this cell population using an anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody, OKT8F. There was on average a 99.9% reduction of CD8 cells in peripheral blood in six infected Macaca mulatta treated with OKT8F. The apparent CD8 depletion started 1 h after antibody administration, and low CD8 levels were maintained until day 8. An increase in plasma viremia of one to three orders of magnitude was observed in five of the six macaques. The injection of a control antibody to an infected macaque did not induce a sustained viral load increase, nor did it significantly reduce the number of CD8(+) T cells. These results demonstrate that CD8 cells play a crucial role in suppressing SIV replication in vivo