IMMUNOGENICITY AND EFFICACY OF A NOVEL CANDIDATE VACCINE FOR AIDS

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 主要目的是确定一种新的艾滋病候选疫苗在猕猴模型中的免疫原性和有效性。该疫苗是用一种新的合成多肽结合物(MPC)系统配制的，该系统代表艾滋病毒的主要蛋白质之一，称为TAT(反式转录激活因子)。Tat蛋白在病毒复制过程中具有重要作用。因此，我们计划给猴子接种一种合成的MPC TAT疫苗，以刺激猴子的免疫系统产生病毒特异性蛋白(抗体)和白细胞(CD4和CD8T细胞)。接种疫苗和未接种疫苗的对照猴子将接受已知剂量的传染病病毒的挑战，以确定疫苗是否能防止感染和/或疾病进展。第一批艾滋病病例是在20年前报告的，世卫组织最近发布的一份报告显示，全球约有4000万人感染艾滋病毒。到目前为止，还没有有效的预防感染的疫苗，疫情仍在继续蔓延。如果这项拟议的研究成功，它很可能为开发有效的人类应用疫苗提供重要信息。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The main objective is to determine the immunogenicity and efficacy of a novel candidate vaccine for AIDS in the macaque model. The vaccine is formulated with a novel synthetic multi-peptide conjugate (MPC) system that represents one of the major proteins of HIV known as Tat (trans activator of transcription). Tat protein has an important function in replication of the virus. Therefore, we plan to vaccinate monkeys with a synthetic MPC Tat vaccine to stimulate the monkey's immune system to produce virus specific proteins (antibodies), and white blood cells (CD4+ and CD8+ T cells). The vaccinated and unvaccinated control monkeys will be challenged with a known dose of infectious virus to determine whether the vaccine will prevent infection and or disease progression. The first AIDS cases were reported two decades ago, and WHO has recently released a report indicating that approximately 40 million persons are infected with HIV worldwide. As yet, there is no effective vaccine for prevention of infection and the epidemic continues to spread. If the proposed study is successful, it is likely to provide important information toward development of an effective vaccine for human application.