Scientists have found that DNA vaccination can induce sustained, multi-year immunity against HIV, driven by CD8+ T-cells. The results of the successful trial are published in the journal PLOS ONE.
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The biologists developed DNA vaccines boosted with the PD-1 protein, which plays an important role in immune cell differentiation. Previous studies in mice have shown that this strategy enables more efficient delivery of antigen (a virus fragment) to dendritic cells, which present it to T-cell receptors to initiate an immune response.
In 2021, researchers reported the results of a study in rhesus macaques that evaluated the potential of the PD-1-enhanced pRhPD1-p27 DNA vaccine against monkey and human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV). The vaccine provided sustained control of SHIVSF162P3CN levels, which was mediated by a strong CD8+ T-cell response. Viruses were undetectable in the blood of the animals for two years.
