PERSISTENCE OF IMMUNE RESPONSE TO VACCINIA IN IMMUNOCOMPETENT AND HIV+ ADULTS

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。这是一项研究免疫功能正常和hiv阳性成人对牛痘免疫反应持久性的方案。这项工作建立在以前的研究没有足够广泛或集中在这一重要领域提供统计上有意义的信息的观察基础上。研究人员将验证一种假设，即对天花疫苗的细胞免疫反应是长期持续的，可能在免疫能力强的人群中持续数十年。第二个假设是免疫缺陷，如HIV感染，将减少免疫反应的程度和持续时间。恐怖主义威胁的出现提高了继续为老年人接种天花疫苗提供保护的问题的重要性，特别是对那些将来不可能再次接种疫苗的艾滋病毒感染者。这个问题的答案可能会改变恐怖袭击的准备方式。将在以下人群中评估牛痘记忆淋巴细胞反应的持久性：1)健康的先前接种疫苗的受试者，2)年龄匹配的先前接种疫苗的HIV阳性受试者，以及3)健康的未接种疫苗的个体。将测量每个受试者的体液和细胞介导的免疫反应。假设自接种疫苗以来，响应的下降将随时间线性变化，并且研究人员将尝试计算衰减率。该项目得到了GCRC的CReFF支持，Abigail Freedman博士为接受者，William Borkowsky博士为导师，已在GCRC启动。结果尚未公布。

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. This is a protocol to study the persistence of the immune response to vaccinia in immunocompetent and HIV-positive adults. This work builds on the observation that previous studies have not been sufficiently extensive or focused to provide statistically significant information in this important area. The investigators will test the hypothesis that cellular immune responses to smallpox vaccination are long lasting and may persist for many decades in immunocompetent people. The second hypothesis is that immunodeficiency, such as HIV infection, will diminish the extent and duration of immune response. The emergence of a terrorist threat has elevated the significance of the question of the continued protection offered by smallpox vaccination given to older members of the public, and particularly to HIV-infected people who would not be candidates for re-vaccination in the future. An answer to this question might change the way a terrorist attack would be prepared for. Persistence of vaccinia memory lymphocyte responses will be assessed in 1) healthy previously vaccinated subjects, 2) age-matched previously vaccinated subjects who are HIV positive, and 3) healthy unvaccinated individuals. Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses will be measured for each subject. It will be assumed that the drop-off of response will be linear with time since vaccination, and the investigators will attempt to compute the rate of decay. This project, which has CReFF support from the GCRC, with Dr. Abigail Freedman as the recipient and Dr. William Borkowsky as mentor, has been initiated on the GCRC. Results are not yet available.