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Journal of Virology, January 2007, p. 465-473, Vol. 81, No. 2
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.00815-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Vaccination of Cats with Attenuated Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Proviral DNA Vaccine Expressing Gamma Interferon

Soumi Gupta,^1, Christian M. Leutenegger,¹ Gregg A. Dean,² Jonathan D. Steckbeck,³ Kelly Stefano Cole,³ and Ellen E. Sparger^1*

Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California 95616,¹ Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606,² Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261³

Received 20 April 2006/ Accepted 19 October 2006

A feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) provirus with a vif gene deletion (FIVvifATG) that coexpresses feline gamma interferon (IFN-) was tested as a proviral DNA vaccine to extend previous studies showing efficacy with an FIV-pPPRvif DNA vaccine. Cats were vaccinated with either FIVvifATG or FIV-pPPRvif proviral plasmid DNA or with both FIV-pPPRvif DNA and a feline IFN- expression plasmid (pCDNA-IFN). A higher frequency of FIV-specific T-cell proliferation responses was observed in cats immunized with either FIVvifATG or FIV-pPPRvif plus pCDNA-IFN, while virus-specific cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte responses were comparable between vaccine groups. Antiviral antibodies were not observed postvaccination. Virus-specific cellular and humoral responses were similar between vaccine groups after challenge with a biological FIV isolate (FIV-PPR) at 13 weeks postimmunization. All vaccinated and unvaccinated cats were infected after FIV-PPR challenge and exhibited similar plasma virus loads. Accordingly, inclusion of plasmids containing IFN- did not enhance the efficacy of FIV-pPPRvif DNA immunization. Interestingly, the lack of protection associated with FIV-pPPRvif DNA immunization contrasted with findings from a previous study and suggested that multiple factors, including timing of FIV-pPPRvif inoculations and challenge, as well as route of challenge virus delivery, may significantly impact vaccine efficacy.

Published ahead of print on 1 November 2006.

Present address: Monogram Biosciences, Inc., 345 Oyster Point Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080.

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