Evaluation of the efficacy of MF59 and Al (OH) 3 adjuvants in modifying HIV-1 gp140 trimer in-duced specific humoral immune response / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of MF59 and Al( OH) 3 adjuvants in potentia-ting HIV-1 specific humoral immune response when used in combination with HIV-1 gp140 trimer.Methods Guinea pigs were randomly divided into three groups including the MF59 full dose treatment group ( antigen to adjuvant volume ratio1 ∶1 ) , the MF59 half dose treatment group ( antigen to adjuvant volume ratio1 ∶0.5) and the Al(OH)3 treatment group (antigen to adjuvant volume ratio1 ∶1).The guinea pigs in each group were immunized with gp140 trimer and corresponding adjuvants for three times with three weeks interval between each injection.Serum samples were collected at week 9 for the detection of HIV-1 gp120 binding antibodies, HIV-1 gp70V1V2 binding antibodies and HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies against eight dif-ferent pseudoviruses of four different clades.Results Compared with the Al(OH)3 treatment group, the guinea pigs treated with full dose and half dose of MF59 showed significantly increased titers of HIV-1 gp120 binding antibodies (P=0.027 and P=0.041).The levels of HIV-1 gp70V1V2 binding antibodies in full dose of MF59 treated guinea pigs were significantly higher than those of Al( OH) 3 treated guinea pigs ( P=0.029).No significant difference with the HIV-1 gp70V1V2 binding antibodies was observed between the MF59 half dose treatment group and the Al( OH) 3 treatment group.The serum samples collected from each group could neutralize the eight different pseudoviruses at different degrees, except that two pseudoviruses of clade B ( REJO4541 and TRJO4551) could not be neutralized by serum samples from MF59 half dose treated guinea pigs.The MF59 full dose treatment group showed the highest geometric mean of 50%inhibitory dose (ID50) to the eight pseudoviruses, followed by Al(OH)3 treatment group and MF59 half dose treatment group.Conclusion Compared with the traditional Al(OH)3 adjuvant, full dose of MF59 adjuvant in com-bination with HIV-1 gp140 trimer could induce higher levels of binding antibodies against HIV-1 gp120 and HIV-1 gp70V1V2, as well as high levels of neutralizing antibodies.