Induction of CD8+ T cells to an HIV-1 antigen through a prime boost regimen with heterologous E1-deleted adenoviral vaccine carriers

E1-deleted adenoviral recombinants most commonly based on the human serotype 5 (AdHu5) have been shown thus far to induce unsurpassed transgene product-specific CD8(+) T cell responses. A large percentage of the adult human population carries neutralizing Abs due to natural exposures to AdHu5 virus. To circumvent reduction of the efficacy of adenovirus (Ad) vector-based vaccines by neutralizing Abs to the vaccine carrier, we developed El-deleted adenoviral vaccine carriers based on simian serotypes. One of these carriers, termed AdC68, expressing a codon-optimized truncated form of gag of HIV-1 was shown previously to induce a potent transgene product-specific CD8+ T cell response in mice. We constructed a second chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector, termed AdC6, also expressing the truncated gag of HIV-1. This vector, which belongs to a different serotype than the AdC68 virus, induces high frequencies of gag-specific CD8+ T cells in mice including those pre-exposed to AdHu5 virus. Generation of an additional El-deleted adenoviral vector of chimpanzee origin allows for sequential booster immunizations with heterologous vaccine carriers. In this study, we show that such heterologous prime boost regimens based on El-deleted adenoviral vectors of different serotypes expressing the same transgene product are highly efficient in increasing the transgene product-specific CD8(+) T cell response. They are equivalent to sequential vaccinations with an El-deleted Ad vector followed by booster immunization with a poxvirus vector and they surpass regimens based on DNA vaccine prime followed by a recombinant adenoviral vector boost.