HIV Research and Development (HIVRAD)

DHVI Investigators were awarded a HIVRAD grant in 2004 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to explore the use of centralized HIV-1 genes as potential HIV vaccine candidates. Dr. Barton Haynes is the Principal Investigator of this grant titled, “Centralized Genes as HIV-1 Immunogens.”

 

Barton Haynes, Ben Jiang Ma, Elizabeth Ramsburg, Larry Liao, and David Montefiori aim to determine if year 2001 CON-S, year 2003 CON-T or subtype consensus envelope proteins (Envs) induce broader neutralizing antibodies than wild-type Envs and will modify centralized genes and proteins to enhance induction of Nabs.

 

Feng Gao is testing whether consensus genes are superior to wild-type genes for induction of crossreactive T cell responses to HIV-1. Gao and Ramsburg are also trying to determine if the year 2003 M consensus CON-T env gene is equally as immunogenic for T cell responses as year 1999 CON6 and year 2001 CON-S env gene; optimal M gene vs. consensus A, B, C, AE, G vs. WT A, B, C, AE, G for cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

 

Recently, the DHVI team has found that Year 2001 CON-S group M consensus Env is better than any wild-type Envs for induction of neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses to WT HIV-1 primary isolate Envs.