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Journal of Virology, October 2002, p. 10038-10043, Vol. 76, No. 19
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.19.10038-10043.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Departments of Virus and Cell Biology,1 Viral Vaccine Research,2 Vaccine Pharmaceutical Research, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, Pennsylvania 194863
Received 20 March 2002/ Accepted 30 June 2002
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Previously, Larsson et al. (13) described a recombinant vaccinia virus enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay for detection of HIV polymerase responses in HIV-positive subjects. This assay has the advantage of delivering target protein antigen into the cells' cytosol, where the expressed protein can be processed into peptides capable of restimulating T-cell immune responses. A disadvantage is that a live, albeit attenuated, virus must be used for the assay, and construction of the recombinant vaccinia virus vector is not trivial. An alternative is the use of peptides known to bind to MHC class I or class II molecules. Tetramer assays have proven useful in monitoring responses to dominant epitopes (25), but this approach appears to overestimate the number of responding T cells since it measures binding but not function (8). The tetramer assay is also MHC restricted and is limited to detecting responses to known epitopes. When studying an outbred population, assays reliant on measuring responses to a few dominant epitopes will underestimate the response to vaccines or natural infection. To circumvent these issues, we have developed a strategy for using the gamma interferon (IFN-
) ELISPOT assay to monitor T-cell responses to HIV vaccines. We determined that pools containing as many as 50 peptides spanning the HIV Gag protein could elicit a response equivalent to that induced by infecting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with a vaccinia virus vector expressing Gag. We further determined the fine specificity of the response to Gag by measuring the ELISPOT response to each individual peptide in the pool. This assay was used to show that immunization of rhesus monkeys with an HIV gag DNA vaccine induced long-lasting IFN-
memory responses involving CD4 and CD8 T cells.
Equivalent IFN-
ELISPOT responses to naturally processed Gag delivered with a vaccinia virus vector versus peptide pools.
We compared the use of peptide pools with the use of a recombinant vaccinia virus gag vector (vac-gag) for elicitation of IFN-
production by individual T cells. Our first goal was to determine whether stimulation with naturally processed Gag would elicit a more robust memory T-cell response than that elicited to peptides. We compared the recall response to a vaccinia virus vector expressing Gag with that elicited by a pool of overlapping 20-mer peptides spanning the Gag protein. PBMCs from gag DNA-vaccinated monkeys were seeded in 96-well plates at a density of 4 x 105 cells per well and stimulated with a peptide pool consisting of 50 overlapping 20-mer peptides (offset by 10 amino acids) encompassing the Gag sequence encoded by the vaccine. In parallel, cells were stimulated with vac-gag by infecting 10% of the PBMCs with that vector at a multiplicity of infection of 5:1 for 2 h at 37°C and then adding these cells to the remaining PBMCs in the wells of the assay plate. Controls included cells cultured in medium alone or infected with a control vaccinia virus vector (vac-sc). PBMCs from immunized animals were assayed for the ability to secrete IFN-
during in vitro restimulation with antigenic peptides, using a modification of published methods (7, 12, 24). Briefly, 96-well polyvinylidine difluoride-backed plates (MAIP NOB 10; Millipore, Bedford, Mass.) were coated with a mouse monoclonal antibody to IFN-
(catalog no. 1598-00; R&D Systems), washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and then blocked with RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum. Cells were cultured at a density of 4 x 105 per well in 0.1 ml of medium for restimulation with an HIV Gag peptide pool. (Stock pools were stored in 100% dimethyl sulfoxide at 2-mg/ml concentrations of each peptide and were used at a final concentration of approximately 4 µg/ml, attained by dilution in culture medium.) After 18 to 24 h of incubation at 37°C, the plates were washed six times with PBS containing 0.005% Tween 20. Biotinylated goat anti-human recombinant IFN-
polyclonal antiserum (catalog no. BAF285; R&D Systems) was then added, and the plates were incubated overnight at 4°C. The plates were then washed six times with PBS prior to the addition of streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase conjugate (catalog no. 7100-05; Southern Biotechnology Associates, Birmingham, Ala.). After incubation for 2 h at room temperature, the plates were washed three times with PBS-0.005% Tween 20 and then three times with PBS. Finally, a one-step nitroblue tetrazoleum-5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate substrate (catalog no. 34042; Pierce) was added for 5 to 15 min for development of spots. The reaction was stopped by rinsing the plates in water. After the plates had air dried, spots were counted by use of a stereomicroscope. Select wells were imaged by using an image analysis system from Resolution Technology (Columbus, Ohio). The results (Table 1) indicate that ELISPOT responses detected using the peptide pool were approximately equivalent to those elicited with vac-gag. HIV gag DNA-vaccinated monkeys had responses ranging from 78 to 666 spot-forming cells (SFC) per 106 PBMCs upon restimulation with the Gag peptide pool, and they had responses of 59 to 569 SFC per 106 PBMCs after restimulation with vac-gag. Background responses in the control wells in this experiment were low (<10 SFC/106 PBMCs). The results indicate that peptide pools elicited IFN-
ELISPOT responses equivalent (in magnitude) to those stimulated with naturally processed antigen provided by vac-gag infection of target cells. It is noteworthy that the quality of the spots was generally better when the peptide pool rather than vac-gag was used for restimulation. Responses to the vaccinia virus control (vac-sc) were usually low; however, a few individual monkeys had high background responses to vac-sc. Also, autologous B-cell lines infected with vac-gag were found to be poor targets for eliciting a response to this ELISPOT assay since they resulted in high background responses and poor-quality spots (data not shown).
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TABLE 1. Equivalent IFN- ELISPOT responses to peptide pools and naturally processed Gag delivered with a vaccinia virus vectora
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ELISPOT response of rhesus monkeys immunized with HIV gag DNA vaccines.
Candidate HIV gag DNA vaccines were constructed by altering the DNA sequence of the gag gene (but not the resultant amino acid sequence) such that it contained codons more commonly recognized by mammalian tRNAs instead of wild-type viral codons, many of which are recognized inefficiently by rare tRNAs. The expression vector, V1Jns, was derived from a pUC19 plasmid containing the human cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter with its intron A sequence, multiple restriction sites (including BglII) for cloning, the bovine growth hormone polyadenylation signal sequence, and the kanamycin antibiotic resistance gene (16). The vaccine was constructed by inserting a full-length p55 gag sequence immediately downstream from the cytomegalovirus promoter. In some experiments, an alternative vector, containing the signal peptide sequence from human tissue-specific plasminogen activator inserted into the beginning of the gag sequence, was used. Plasmid DNA used for immunization was purified from Escherichia coli DH5 cells by a modified alkaline lysis procedure, and DNA was further purified by banding via two sequential equilibrium density gradient centrifugations, using cesium chloride-ethidium bromide gradients (16). Plasmid DNA expressing HIV gag with or without the tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) leader sequence was injected intramuscularly (i.m.) into rhesus monkeys at 0, 4, and 8 weeks. In experiment 1 (Table 2), the monkeys were boosted at week 20. At periodic intervals after vaccination, PBMCs were seeded into 96-well ELISPOT plates at 4 x 105 cells per well and stimulated with a pool of 20-mer peptides encompassing the Gag protein. Cells were incubated for
20 h, and then the plates were processed for development of ELISPOTs as described above. The results shown in Table 2 are the net responses after subtraction of spots formed in medium control wells, which were generally less than 10% of the response to the peptide pool. The results from experiment 1 indicate that there was not a marked dose-response effect, since approximately equivalent responses were elicited with the 1- and 5-mg doses of vaccine, and there was no apparent advantage to incorporating the tPA leader sequence into the vaccine. Of note, responses elicited by the DNA vaccine were durable; they were shown to persist for at least 18 months after administration of the final (fourth) dose of the vaccine (experiment 1). |
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TABLE 2. Persistent IFN- ELISPOT responses of rhesus monkeys immunized with HIV gag DNA vaccinesa
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ELISPOT response of rhesus monkeys to an HIV gag DNA-CRL8623 vaccine.
Recently, we documented the potent adjuvant effect for induction of CMI by using a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) gag DNA vaccine (23). In the present study, we compared the T-cell phenotype of rhesus macaques immunized with HIV gag formulated with CRL8623, a nonionic block copolymer adjuvant similar to CRL1005, with that of monkeys immunized with non-adjuvant-associated HIV gag DNA for the induction of IFN-
ELISPOT responses. The DNA-CRL8623 mixture was kept at -70°C and then slowly warmed to room temperature prior to injection. Figure 1 shows the results for groups of three monkeys assayed at six time points after vaccination with 5 mg of HIV gag DNA, formulated either with saline or with 7.5 mg of CRL8623, at weeks 0, 4, and 8. ELISPOT responses were determined using PBMCs that were or were not depleted of CD4 T cells prior to in vitro culture. The results indicated that the DNA-CRL8623 formulation induced a more than twofold-higher ELISPOT response than did non-adjuvant-associated DNA. CD4 depletion experiments suggested that the DNA, with or without the adjuvant, was able to induce both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. It would appear, with the limited cohort size, that adjuvant-associated DNA tended to induce a higher fraction of antigen-specific T cells that were CD8+ than the non-adjuvant-associated form.
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FIG. 1. IFN- ELISPOT response of rhesus monkeys to an HIV gag DNA vaccine formulated with CRL8623 adjuvant. Groups of three monkeys were injected i.m. with 5 mg of HIV gag DNA formulated with CRL8623 (circles) or with saline (squares) at 0, 4, and 8 weeks. ELISPOT responses were enumerated at the indicated times postvaccination, using PBMCs that were unfractionated (closed symbols) or depleted of CD4 T cells (open symbols).
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ELISPOT responses of rhesus monkeys to HIV gag DNA vaccines. Rhesus monkeys were injected i.m. with 5 mg of HIV gag plasmid DNA vaccine at weeks 0, 4, 8, and 24. PBMCs collected at week 51 were tested for their response to individual 20-mer peptides representing the HIV Gag sequence. Unseparated and CD4-depleted PBMCs were tested in parallel for reactivity to each of 50 peptides. Figure 2a shows an example of a CD4-dominated response in which four distinct peptides were recognized. Figure 2b shows the results for a monkey that responded to a single dominant peptide. Note that the response increased following CD4 depletion, indicating that it was predominantly (or entirely) CD8 mediated. Figure 2c provides an example of a mixed-phenotype response; a strong CD8 response to one peptide was observed, while an equally vigorous CD4 response was directed to two distinct peptides. In each example, robust responses were detected 6 months following administration of the final vaccine dose.
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FIG. 2. Response profiles representative of IFN- ELISPOT responses of rhesus monkeys to HIV gag DNA vaccines. Rhesus monkeys were injected i.m. with 5 mg of HIV gag plasmid DNA vaccine at weeks 0, 4, 8, and 24. PBMCs collected at week 51 were tested for their response to individual 20-mer peptides comprising the HIV Gag sequence. Unseparated (unsep) and CD4-depleted (CD-) PBMCs were tested in parallel for reactivity to each of 50 peptides. (a) Example of a CD4-dominated response in which four distinct peptides were recognized. (b) Results for a monkey that responded to a single peptide. Note that the magnitude of the response increased following CD4 depletion, indicating that the response was predominantly CD8 mediated. (c) Example of a mixed-phenotype response yielding a strong CD8 response to one peptide and an equally vigorous CD4 response directed to two distinct peptides.
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ELISPOT responses of PBMCs from 23 monkeys immunized with three or four doses of HIV gag DNA vaccine (formulated without adjuvant). Cells were cultured at a density of 2 x 105 per well with each of 50 overlapping 20-mer peptides (offset by 10 amino acids). Results (Fig. 3) are expressed as the total IFN-
ELISPOT response (adjusted per 106 PBMCs) to each peptide for the 23 monkeys tested. The number in parentheses above each column in Fig. 3 indicates the number of monkeys that responded to the corresponding peptide at a level of
50 SFC per 106 PBMCs. The results show that, collectively, the 23 monkeys responded to 31 of a possible 50 peptides. It should be noted, however, that epitopes may be contained in more than one peptide since the individual peptides overlap by 10 amino acids. If one makes the conservative assumption that responses of an individual to adjacent peptides result, in every case, from a response to the overlapping amino acids, then a minimum of 25 different epitopes were recognized by the 23 monkeys. The number of epitopes recognized by individual monkeys ranged from one to five, with an average of 2.7 peptides being recognized per monkey.
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FIG. 3. Profile of ELISPOT responses to individual 20-mer peptides from HIV Gag. PBMCs from 23 monkeys immunized with three or four doses of HIV gag DNA vaccine were cultured at a density of 2 x 105 cells per well with each of 50 overlapping 20-mer peptides (offset by 10 amino acids). Results are expressed as the total IFN- ELISPOT response (adjusted per million PBMCs) to each peptide for all 23 monkeys. The number in parentheses above each column indicates the number of monkeys that responded to the corresponding peptide at a level of 50 SFC per 106 PBMCs.
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The observation that the phenotype of the T-cell response to our HIV gag DNA vaccine can be manipulated by use of certain adjuvants may have implications for vaccine efficacy in human clinical trials. The DNA vaccines were able to elicit mixed CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses; formulation with CRL8623 appeared to induce a larger fraction of the antigen-specific T cells that were CD8+. The importance of CD8 T cells in prevention of AIDS has been inferred from studies of sex workers in Nairobi (19) as well as studies using the rhesus macaque-SIV model (21). On the other hand, Rosenberg et al. (17) showed that a robust HIV-specific CD4 T-cell response was associated with control of viremia in individuals with AIDS. This suggests that memory T cells may be resistant to infection with HIV, perhaps through rapid induction of a chemokine or cytokine response to virus-infected cells. Because CD4 T cells are necessary for the persistence of long-term CD8 T-cell responses, an HIV vaccine that induces both of these T-cell phenotypes is desirable. Our finding that long-term (>18-month) memory T-cell responses can be elicited to multiple epitopes in a relevant animal model provides hope that such vaccines may be effective in preventing or moderating HIV infection. The ELISPOT assay described herein provides a useful tool suitable for testing such vaccines in large-scale clinical trials.
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