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A combination AIDS vaccine approach consisting of priming with adenovirus-HIV-1MN gp160 recombinants followed by boosting with HIV-1SF2 gp120 was evaluated in chimpanzees. Long-lasting protection, requiring only three immunizations, was achieved against a low-dose challenge with the SF2 strain of HIV-1 and a subsequent high-dose SF2 challenge administered 1 year later without an intervening boost. Notably, neutralizing antibody responses against both clinical and laboratory isolates developed in three chimpanzees and persisted until the time of high-dose challenge. The possibility that cytotoxic T-lymphocytes contribute to low-dose protection of a chimpanzee lacking neutralizing antibodies is suggested. Our results validate the live vector priming/subunit booster approach and should stimulate interest in assessing this combination vaccine approach in humans.

The nucleocapsid (NC) proteins of all retroviruses contain either one or two copies of a sequence motif, C-X2-C-X4-H-X4-C, which has been termed the “cysteine array” or Cys-His box. Studies from several laboratories have shown that mutants in this motif direct the production of virus particles; these particles are structurally normal in many respects, but are either partially or completely deficient in genomic RNA. Further, even when some RNA is encapsidated, the particles are almost completely noninfectious.

Herpesviruses were isolated from lymphocytes from four of eighteen spider monkeys imported recently from Colombia, South America. Virus was isolated after circulating lymphocytes were co-cultivated with permissive cell cultures. Three isolates induced fatal malignant lymphomas in cotton-topped and white-lipped marmoset monkeys and one isolate which was also tested in squirrel monkeys caused no overt disease in this animal species. These virus isolates shared cross-reacting antigens with Herpesvirus saimiri but possessed distinguishing biological properties.

Two adult and two neonatal cotton-topped marmosets and two neonatal white-lipped marmosets (Saguinus species) were inoculated with 10(7) plaque-forming units of cytomegalovirus (Colburn strain). No overt clinical disease developed in four marmosets during observation for eight months; one adult and one neonatal cotton-topped marmoset died from nonspecific causes 63 and 259 days after inoculation, respectively. By days 7-16 after inoculation, all marmosets developed plasma antibodies, which were detectable by neutralization and immunofluorescence assays (peak titers, 1:128-1:256 and 1:64-1:256, respectively). Attempts to isolate virus from whole blood, peripheral lymphocytes, oropharyngeal swabs, or vaginal swabs by cocultivation with permissive cell cultures were unsuccessful. Virus was recovered, however, by cocultivation from the kidney tissues of the adult marmoset that died. Immunosuppressive treatment with azathioprine resulted in a fourfold increase in antibody levels in plasma of two of three marmosets.

In mice, immunostimulatory complexes (ISCOMs) prepared from HIV-1 B external envelope glycoprotein (gp120) induced 10-fold higher antibody titres than gp120 emulsified in depot adjuvant, as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Rhesus monkeys immunized with gp120 ISCOMs produced precipitating and virus neutralizing antibody titres equivalent to those seen in HIV-infected chimpanzees and humans. After multiple immunizations with HIV-1 B gp120 ISCOMs, a rhesus monkey developed a neutralizing response to the HIV-1 isolates RF and MN, but not to the CC isolate. Antisera from ISCOM-immunized rhesus monkeys recognized gp120 on the membranes of HIV-1 B-infected H9 cells, indicating the preservation of epitope structure in the ISCOMs matrix.

The G-banded karyotypes of both normal lymphocytes and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed lymphocytes of cotton-topped marmosets (Saguinus oedipus) were examined. The marmoset lymphocytes and EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cells had normal diploid chromosomes (2n = 46) with no specific cytogenic change associated with transformation in vitro. EBV-transformed marmoset lymphocytes expressed the cell surface markers of B lymphocytes and EB viral antigens.