Multiprotein HIV type 1 clade B DNA and MVA vaccines: construction, expression, and immunogenicity in rodents of the MVA component.

Recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) expressing SIV or SHIV Gag-Pol and Env, alone or in conjunction with a related DNA vaccine, effectively controls immunodeficiency virus infections in nonhuman primates. Here we describe the construction, characterization, and immunogenicity of MVA/HIV 48, a candidate HIV-1 clade B Gag-Pol-Env vaccine. A novel transfer vector was designed to allow the incorporation of HIV genes regulated by vaccinia virus promoters together with a reporter gene into a single site in the MVA genome and to automatically delete the reporter after the initial isolation of the recombinant MVA. MVA/HIV 48 contains chimeric HIV-1 HXB-2/BH10 gag-pol sequences, a deletion of integrase, inactivating point mutations in reverse transcriptase, and HIV-1 ADA env sequences with a truncation of most of the cytoplasmic domain to enhance expression on the plasma membrane. Cells infected with MVA/HIV 48 expressed HIV proteins, which were processed to the expected size. The Env was inserted into the plasma membrane and was functional in a CCR5 coreceptor-dependent cell fusion assay. Moreover, virus-like particles were released into the medium and budding particles containing Env were visualized by immunoelectron microscopy. Rodents that were immunized with MVA/HIV 48 produced antibodies, which neutralized a heterologous HIV-MN strain, and Gag-specific CD8 T cells. In the accompanying paper, we show that MVA/HIV 48 provided efficient boosting of an HIV DNA vaccine.