Susceptibility to Simian immunodeficiency virus ex vivo predicts outcome of a prime-boost vaccine after SIVmac239 challenge.

Background: Efficacy assessment of AIDS vaccines relies both on preclinically challenging immunized monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) or monitoring infection rates in large human trials. Although conventional parameters of vaccine-induced immune responses do not completely predict outcome, existing methods for testing cellular immunity are sophisticated and difficult to establish in resource-limited settings.

Methods: We have used virus replication kinetics (VVR) on ConA-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from rhesus monkeys immunized with DNA replication-defective adenovirus vector expressing various SIV genes, as an ex vivo model, to mimic the effects of different immune effector functions on viral infection.

Results: VVR was attenuated by the immunization and correlated 2 weeks after first boost, with the number of interferon gamma-secreting cells and T-cell noncytotoxic antiviral responses. Importantly, VVR on the day of challenge but not interferon gamma responses correlated with viremia and with memory CD4+ T-cell measurements after SIVmac239 challenge. Similarly, T-cell noncytotoxic antiviral responses on the day of challenge correlated directly with memory CD4 T cell and inversely with plasma viremia after challenge.

Conclusions: VVR thus served as a better predictor of protective capacity of the vaccine regimen in these monkeys. We suggest that VVR be considered in the evaluation of candidate AIDS vaccines in humans.