Study on the immunogenicity of HIV-1 gag vaccine

AIM: To detect the immunogenicity of HIV-1 gag DNA vaccine. METHODS: The serum antibody titers of the immunized mice were detected by ELISA. The numbers of spleen's CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells were analyzed by the fluorescent antibody staining and the cytotoxic activity was determined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. RESULTS: The titers of the serum antibodies and the numbers and cytotoxic activity of spleen's T lymphocyte subsets had significant differences (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively) between pVAXGAG and pVAX1 vaccinated groups. CONCLUSION: HIV-1 DNA vaccine plasmid pVAXGAG could elicit both the specific humoral and cellular immunities in BALB/c mice.