Cytokines Can Alter Efficacy But Not Response Type.(Brief Article)

2001 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Cytokines and growth factors can improve the effectiveness of DNA HIV vaccines although they have little effect on the type of induced immune responses, researchers in the United States say.

"The effects of genetic adjuvants on humoral and cell-mediated immunity to two human immunodeficiency virus antigens, Env and Nef, have been examined in mice," according to Anne C. Moore and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Adjuvants could have a positive impact on vaccine efficacy but only in degree and not in kind, Moore and coworkers found.

They compared murine immune responses with vaccines based on genes coding for the HIV proteins Env and Nef. While Nef-based vaccines induced strong antibody responses aided by HIV specific gamma interferon (IFN-(gamma)), Env-based vaccines produced potent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity but weak humoral responses, they said.

A number of genes coding for cytokines and hematopoietic growth factors were studied as possible adjuvants for Env and Nef vaccines. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor increased CTL activity and IFN-(gamma) output in response to Env, study data showed, while interleukin-12 with Flt3 ligand enhanced immunoglobulin G antibody responses and IFN-(gamma) production after treatment with Nef-based ...