Cellular and humoral immne reponses induced by HIV-2 recombinant fowlpox virus on mice

A fowlpox virus (FPV) transferring vector pUTA2-gag-gp105 was constructed by inserting HIV-2 gag-gp105 chimeric gene to the downstream of a synthetic complex promoter ATI-p7.5 × 20 of vector pUTA2. Transfection was then carried out, and recombinant FPV (rFPV) was screened by 5'-bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU), genome PCR and Western blot detection. Hereditary stability of the rFPV was detected. BALB/c mice were immunized with rFPV by muscular injection. Anti-HIV-2 antibody, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell count and specific target-killing activity of spleen CTL in immunized mice were analyzed by ELISA, FACS and LDH release assay, respectively. The results showed that a recombinant virus rFPV-gg which could stably express HIV-2 chimeric protein gag-gp105 was obtained. The HIV-2 specific antibody was detected from the immunized BALB/c mice. The numbers of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ subgroup of spleen T lymphocyte were higher in immunization group than those in controls. HIV-2-Specific target-killing activity of spleen CTL was observed in immunized mice. It was concluded that the rFPV-gg may elicit specific cellular and humoral immune reactions in mice.