Genevax HIV AIDS Vaccine--Phase I

Our efforts recently yielded a report describing the successful immunization of mice against theHIV-1 coat protein (gp160) using the technique of genetic vaccination. Animals were directly inoculatedwith DNA containing the HIV-1 gp160 gene, resulting in humoral and cellular immunity to the HIVgp160. More recent work has demonstrated protection from a normally lethal cell challenge with amurine myeloma expressing gp160. For the present application, various plasmids will be constructed,used alone or modified for inoculation, that will induce an immune response directed against either SIVor HIV-1 gene products. Plasmids will be modeled after the one used in the successful gp160 HIVexperiments; however, the genes for many of the SIV and HIV proteins will be incorporated into theplasmids. Construction will be accomplished using standard recombinant DNA cloning techniques.Several of the HIV constructs or modified constructs will be designed to be safely compatible withhuman inoculation in anticipation of their use in human clinical trials. The immediate objectives of thisPhase I study will be (i) construction of the plasmids, (ii) evaluation of the levels of protein expressionin human rhabdomyosarcoma and murine myeloma cells that have been transfected with the constructsof interest, and (iii) evaluation of immunogenicity using mice and guinea pigs to provide a logical basisfor the selection of plasmids for further development as components of a genetic vaccine for HIV-1(GENEVAX-HIV). The long-term goal of this work will be the development and commercialization ofGENEVAX-HIV for the possible treatment or prophylaxis of HIV-infected persons.