Recent Advances in Lentiviral Vaccines for HIV-1 Infection

Abstract

The development of an effective HIV vaccine to prevent and/or cure HIV remains a global health priority. Given their central role in the initiation of adaptive immune responses, dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines are being increasingly explored as immunotherapeutic strategies to enhance HIV-specific T cells in infected individuals and, thus, promote immune responses that may help facilitate a functional cure. HIV-1-based lentiviral (LV) vectors have inherent advantages as DC vaccine vectors due to their ability to transduce non-dividing cells and integrate into the target cell genomic DNA, allowing for expression of encoded antigens over the lifespan of the cell. Moreover, LV vectors may express additional immunostimulatory and immunoregulatory proteins that enhance DC function and direct antigen-specific T cells responses. Recent basic and clinical research efforts have broadened our understanding of LV vectors as DC-based vaccines. In this review, we provide an overview of the pre-clinical and clinical LV vector vaccine studies for treating HIV to date. We also discuss advances in LV vector designs that have enhanced DC transduction efficiency, target cell specificity, and immunogenicity, and address potential safety concerns regarding LV vector-based vaccines.

An Overview of Vaccine Development for COVID-19

“…Nevertheless, the application of an adenovirus vector to transfer the gene encoding the goal protein, as in the case of Ad5 with the expression of S protein, increases some anxieties associated with immunity against adenovirus types in humans [ 68 ]. Finally, lentiviral vectors derived from viral proteins have been associated with some protection issues related to the possible risk of mutagenesis [ 69 ]. A thorough study of the immunological associations with SARS-CoV-2 involves the production of an active vaccine; however, most approaches would not serve the required urgency because of the disease epidemic’s severity.…”

The 2020 Pandemic: Current SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Development

“…LV are used to provoke the naïve T cells leading to effector T cell differentiation and proliferation. Dendritic cells are the ideal LV vaccine targets as they are the most potent antigen presentation cells (APCs) in which they are able to stimulate robust and durable antigen-specific T cell responses ( 75 ). LV-SMENP-DC and pathogen-specific Artificial Antigen-Presenting Cells (aAPC) are two vaccines developed by Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute, China which are based on APCs ability to stimulate viral antigen-specific T cells.…”

SARS-CoV-2 Inflammatory Syndrome. Clinical Features and Rationale for Immunological Treatment

“…However, the use of an adenovirus as a vector to carry the gene encoding the target protein, as in the case of Ad5 expressing spike, raises some concerns that are related to pre-existing immunity against adenovirus in the human population [110]. Lastly, the use of viral protein-derived lentiviral vectors raises some safety concerns that are related to the potential risk of mutagenesis [111].…”