Long-term persistence of HIV-1 vaccine-induced CD4+CD45RA-CD62L-CCR7- memory T-helper cells
Abstract
Objective: To determine in chimpanzees if candidate HIV-1 subunit protein vaccines were capable of eliciting long-lasting T-cell memory responses in the absence of viral infection, and to determine the specific characteristics of these responses.
Design: A longitudinal study of cell-mediated immune responses induced in three chimpanzees following immunization with subunit envelope glycoproteins of either HIV-1 or herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2. Following these pre-clinical observations, four human volunteers who had been immunized 7 years previously with the same HIV-1 vaccine candidate donated blood for assessment of immune responses.
Methods: Responses were monitored by protein and peptide based ELISpot assays, lymphocyte proliferation, and intracellular cytokine staining. Humoral responses were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus neutralization assays.
Results: Although antigen (Ag)-specific CD4 T-cell responses persisted for at least 5 years in chimpanzees, CD8 T-cell responses were discordant and declined within 2 years. Detailed cellular analyses revealed that strong Th1 in addition to Th2 type responses were induced by AS2/gp120 and persisted, whereas CD8 T-cell memory declined in peripheral blood. The specificity of both Th and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses revealed that the majority of responses were directed to conserved epitopes. The remarkable persistence of Ag-specific CD4 T-cell memory was characterized as a population of the CD45RA-CD62L-CCR7- 'effector phenotype' producing the cytokines IFN?, IL-2 and IL-4 upon epitope-specific recognition. Importantly, results in chimpanzees were confirmed in peripheral blood of one of four human volunteers studied more than 7 years after immunization.
Conclusion: These studies demonstrate that epitope-specific Th1 and Th2 cytokine-dependent Th responses can be induced and maintained for longer than 5 years by immunization with subunit proteins of HIV-1.
Citation
Balla-Jhagjhoorsingh, S.S.; Koopman, G.; Mooij, P.; Koornstra, W.; McCormack, S.; Weber, J.; Pantaleo, G.; Heeney, J.L. Long-term persistence of HIV-1 vaccine-induced CD4+CD45RA-CD62L-CCR7- memory T-helper cells. AIDS (2004) 18 (6) 837-848.
Links
Long-term persistence of HIV-1 vaccine-induced CD4+CD45RA-CD62L-CCR7- memory T-helper cells