Merck Ad5/HIV induces broad innate immune activation that predicts CD8~+ T-cell responses but is attenuated by preexisting Ad5 immunity

摘要

A highly efficacious HIV vaccine offers the greatest hope for halting the AIDS pandemic, but it remains unclear what type of immune response an HIV vaccine must induce to be effective. Modest but encouraging results from two recent clinical trials have provided some insights. The RV144 study in Thailand used an engineered poxvirus expressing HIV proteins in conjunction with an HIV envelope protein and demonstrated 31% efficacy in reducing HIV-1 infection (1). MRKAd5/HIV, an adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5)-based HIV vaccine expressing HIV proteins, and the focus of the present study, did not show efficacy but exerted selective pressure on infecting viruses, forcing them to evolve in response to the HIV proteins it expressed (2, 3).