Efficiency of Recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin in Inducing Humoral and Cell Mediated Immunities against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Third Variable Domain in Immunized Mice

PURPOSE: The third variable (V3) loop of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein has been intensively studied for AIDS vaccine development. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is widely used to immunize against tuberculosis and has many advantages as a vaccine vehicle, such as low toxicity, adjuvant potential, low cost, and long-lasting immune-inducing capacity. This work was initiated to investigate the immunogenicity of recombinant BCG (rBCG-mV3) designed to express trimeric HIV-1 V3 loop (mV3) in rBCG-mV3-immunized animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HIV-1 V3-concatamer was cloned into pMV261, a BCG-expression vector, and then rBCG-mV3 was constructed by introducing the recombinant plasmid (pMV-V3). The recombinant BCG was examined with regard to its expression of V3-concatamer and the genetic stability in vivo and in vitro. The immune responses induced by recombinant BCG were tested in immunized mice and guinea pigs. RESULTS: The rBCG-mV3 expressed detectable amounts of V3-concatamer when induced by single heat-shock. The recombinant BCG was genetically stable and maintained the introduced mV3 gene for several weeks. V3-specific antibodies were clearly detected 6 weeks after inoculation. The antibody titer rapidly increased after immunization up to 10 weeks, and then maintained for over 4 weeks. IgG2a was prevalent in the V3-specific antiserum. The recombinant BCG was also effective in inducing delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in the immunized guinea pigs. rBCG-immunized mice retained substantial amounts of V3-specific T cells in the spleen, even 5 months after the first immunization. CONCLUSION: Recombinant BCG-mV3 is very efficient in inducing humoral and long-lasting cell-mediated immunity against HIV-1 V3 in the immunized animals.