Development of a Live Recombinant BCG Expressing Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) Gag Using a pMyong2 Vector System: Potential Use As a Novel HIV-1 Vaccine

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology Vol. 9; p. 643
• Main Authors: Kim, Byoung-Jun, Kim, Bo-Ram, Kook, Yoon-Hoh, Kim, Bum-Joon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 27.03.2018
• Subjects: AIDS Vaccines - immunology; Animals; Antibodies, Viral - blood; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cell Proliferation; Cells, Cultured; Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay; Escherichia coli - genetics; Female; Genetic Vectors - genetics; HIV Core Protein p24 - genetics; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - prevention & control; HIV-1 - physiology; human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag p24; human immunodeficiency virus type 1 vaccine; Humans; Immunology; Interferon-gamma - metabolism; Lymphocyte Activation; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium bovis - genetics; Mycobacterium bovis - immunology; pMyong2 vector system; recombinant Mycobacterium bovis BCG; Mycobacterium; human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag p24; human immunodeficiency virus type 1 vaccine; recombinant Mycobacterium bovis BCG; pMyong2 vector system
• ISSN: 1664-3224; 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00643

Even though the rate of new human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections is gradually decreasing worldwide, an effective preventive vaccine for HIV-1 is still urgently needed. The recombinant BCG (rBCG) is promising for the development of an HIV-1 vaccine. Recently, we showed that a recombinant expressing HIV-1 gag in a pMyong2 vector system (rSmeg-pMyong2-p24) increased the efficacy of a vaccine against HIV-1 in mice. Here, we evaluated the potential of an rBCG expressing HIV-1 p24 antigen Gag in pMyong2 (rBCG-pMyong2-p24) in a vaccine application for HIV-1 infection. We found that rBCG-pMyong2-p24 elicited an enhanced HIV-1 p24 Gag expression in rBCG and infected antigen-presenting cells. We also found that compared to rBCG-pAL-p24 in a pAL5000 derived vector system, rBCG-pMyong2-p24 elicited enhanced p24-specific immune responses in vaccinated mice as evidenced by higher levels of HIV-1 Gag-specific CD4 and CD8 T lymphocyte proliferation, gamma interferon ELISPOT cell induction, antibody production, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) responses. Furthermore, rBCG-pMyong2-p24 showed a higher level of p24-specific Ab production than rSmeg-pMyong2-p24 in the same pMyong2 vector system. In conclusion, our data indicated that a live recombinant BCG expressing HIV-1 Gag using a pMyong2 vector system, rBCG-pMyong2-p24 elicited an enhanced immune response against HIV-1 infections in a mouse model system. So, rBCG-pMyong2-p24 may have the potential as a prime vaccine in a heterologous prime-boost vaccine strategy for HIV-1 infection.