Therapeutic dendritic-cell vaccine for chronic HIV-1 infection

W Lu, LC Arraes, WT Ferreira, JM Andrieu - Nature medicine, 2004 - nature.com
W Lu, LC Arraes, WT Ferreira, JM Andrieu
Nature medicine, 2004nature.com
We present the results of a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of a therapeutic dendritic
cell (DC)-based vaccine for HIV-1. We immunized 18 chronically HIV-1-infected and
currently untreated individuals showing stable viral loads for at least 6 months with
autologous monocyte-derived DCs loaded with autologous aldrithiol-2-inactivated HIV-1.
Plasma viral load levels were decreased by 80%(median) over the first 112 d following
immunization. Prolonged suppression of viral load of more than 90% was seen in 8 …
Abstract
We present the results of a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of a therapeutic dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccine for HIV-1. We immunized 18 chronically HIV-1-infected and currently untreated individuals showing stable viral loads for at least 6 months with autologous monocyte-derived DCs loaded with autologous aldrithiol-2-inactivated HIV-1. Plasma viral load levels were decreased by 80% (median) over the first 112 d following immunization. Prolonged suppression of viral load of more than 90% was seen in 8 individuals for at least 1 year. The suppression of viral load was positively correlated with HIV-1-specifc interleukin-2 or interferon-γ-expressing CD4+ T cells and with HIV-1 gag–specific perforin-expressing CD8+ effector cells, suggesting that a robust virus-specific CD4+ T-helper type 1 (TH1) response is required for inducing and maintaining virus-specific CD8+ effectors to contain HIV-1 in vivo. The results suggest that inactivated whole virus–pulsed DC vaccines could be a promising strategy for treating people with chronic HIV-1 infection.
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