Dox-dependent SIVmac with tetracycline-inducible promoter in the U3 promoter region

Suppressing active replication of a live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus vaccine does not abrogate protection from challenge

Although safety concerns preclude the use of live attenuated HIV vaccines in humans, they provide a useful system for identifying the elusive correlates of protective immunity in the SIV/macaque animal model. However, a number of pieces of evidence suggest that protection may result from prior occupancy of susceptible target cells by the vaccine virus rather than the immune response. To address this, we developed a Nef-deletion variant of an RT-SHIV whose active replication could be shut off by treatment with RT-inhibitors. Groups of macaques were inoculated with the ∆Nef-RT-SHIV and immune responses allowed to develop before antiretroviral treatment and subsequent challenge with wild-type SIVmac239. Vaccinated animals either resisted infection fully or significantly controlled the subsequent viremia. However, there was no difference between animals undergoing replication of the vaccine virus and those without. This strongly suggests that competition for available target cells does not play a role in protection.

Conditionally replicating HIV and SIV variants

Conditionally replicating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) variants that can be switched on and off at will are attractive tools for HIV and SIV research. We constructed HIV and SIV variants in which the natural transcription control mechanism was replaced by the doxycycline (dox)-inducible Tet-On gene expression mechanism. These HIV-rtTA and SIV-rtTA variants are fully replication-competent, but replication is critically dependent on dox administration. We here describe how the dox-dependent virus variants may improve the safety of live-attenuated virus vaccines and how they can be used to study the immune responses that correlate with vaccine-induced protection. Furthermore, we review how these variants were initially designed and subsequently optimized by spontaneous viral evolution. These efforts yielded efficiently replicating and tightly dox-controlled HIV-rtTA and SIV-rtTA variants that replicate in a variety of cell and tissue culture systems, and in human immune system (HIS) mice and macaques, respectively. These viruses can be used as a tool in HIV and SIV biology studies and in vaccine research. We review how HIV-rtTA and SIV-rtTA were used to study the role of the viral TAR and Tat elements in virus replication.

Vaccination of mice with replication-defective human immunodeficiency virus induces cellular and humoral immunity and protects against vaccinia virus-gag challenge

Here we describe as a potential vaccine candidate a replication-defective HIV that encodes multiple viral genes in addition to a cassette that includes both truncated cyclin T1 and an autofluorescent protein. After confirming functionality of the cyclin T1, we immunized mice intramuscularly once or twice with the replication-defective HIV vector pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) G protein (RD HIV), a plasmid encoding CMV-driven gag (gag DNA), or adenovirus gag (Ad5-gag). Capsid-specific antibody titers following RD HIV immunization were >10(6)/ml and approximately equivalent to those induced by gag DNA and Ad5-gag. Antibodies against the autofluorescent protein and VSV G were also detected. After RD HIV immunization ELISpot assays demonstrated Gag-specific interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) SFU equivalent to that of Ad5-gag and fourfold greater than that of gag DNA. HIV polymerase-specific IFN-gamma SFU values were similar, and boosting increased both antibody titers and the IFN-gamma response. Challenge using vaccinia virus (VV)-gag demonstrated significantly lower recoverable VV for RD HIV-immunized mice compared to controls. No significant differences were observed in vaccinated mice challenged with wild-type VV. This study demonstrates the efficacy of RD HIV in conferring HIV-specific immunity and protection in mice and suggests its potential use in humans as either a prophylactic or a therapeutic vaccine.

Tight control of transgene expression by lentivirus vectors containing second-generation tetracycline-responsive promoters

BACKGROUND

The goal of this study was to design improved regulatable lentivirus vector systems. The aim was to design tetracycline (tet)-regulatable lentivirus vectors based on the Tet-on system displaying low background expression in the absence of the doxycycline (DOX) inducer and high transgene expression levels in the presence of DOX.

METHODS

We constructed a binary lentivirus vector system that is composed of a self-inactivating (SIN) lentivirus vector bearing inducible first- or second-generation tet-responsive promoter elements (TREs) driving expression of a transgene and a second lentivirus vector encoding a reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator (rtTA) that activates transgene expression from the TRE in the presence of DOX.

RESULTS

We evaluated a number of different rtTAs and found rtTA2S-M2 to induce the highest levels of transgene expression. Regulated transgene expression was stable in human breast carcinoma cells implanted into nude mice for up to 11 weeks. In an attempt to minimize background expression levels, the chicken beta-globin cHS4 insulator element was cloned into the 3' long terminal repeat (LTR) of the transgene transfer vector. The cHS4 insulator element reduced background expression but expression levels following DOX addition were lower than those observed with vectors lacking an insulator sequence. In a second strategy, vectors bearing second-generation TREs harboring repositioned tetracycline operator elements were used. Such vectors displayed greatly reduced leakiness in the absence of DOX and induced transgene expression levels were up to 522-fold above those seen in the absence of DOX.

CONCLUSIONS

Inducible lentivirus vectors bearing insulators or second-generation TREs will likely prove useful for applications demanding the lowest levels of background expression.

[Studies on virulence of HIV and development of non-virulent live AIDS vaccine using monkeys]

A great effort for developing AIDS vaccine has been carried out in the world, designed by various new ideas based on basic research information obtained in recent virology and immunology. Withall it, to obtain effective AIDS vaccine is considered skeptical. One of the reasons of its difficulty is a lack of experimental animals susceptible to HIV-1. In our laboratory, we have succeeded in developing chimeric SIV having 3' half of HIV-1 genome including env (SHIV), which is infectious to macaque monkeys. One of SHIVs has been proved nonpathogenic in monkeys from various aspects and it afforded protective immunity to monkeys against pathogenic SHIV challenge infection. Now, we are trying to develop anti-HIV live attenuated vaccines using the nonpathogenic SHIV as a starting material. In the history of virus vaccine, live attenuated vaccines have been proved most effective in measles and polio-myelitis. However, it is not clear whether nonpathogenic HIV exists or not. Futhermore, even if nonpathogenic HIV could be obtained, there is possibility that it will easily mutate to pathogenic one. Therefore, to develop live attenuated AIDS vaccine is considered dangerous. In this article, We will introduce our research on SHIV pathogenicity using monkeys and hypothesize possibility to obtain nonpathogenic HIV which is speculated from the origin and evolution of HIV/SIV. To clarify virulence and nonvirulence of HIV and to obtain nonpathogenic virus are not only applied research but also basic science to dissolve the fundemental question why HIV can induce the disease.

Design and in vivo characterization of self-inactivating human and non-human lentiviral expression vectors engineered for streptogramin-adjustable transgene expression

Adjustable transgene expression is considered key for next-generation molecular interventions in gene therapy scenarios, therapeutic reprogramming of clinical cell phenotypes for tissue engineering and sophisticated gene-function analyses in the post-genomic era. We have designed a portfolio of latest generation self-inactivating human (HIV-derived) and non-human (EIAV-based) lentiviral expression vectors engineered for streptogramin-adjustable expression of reporter (AmyS(DeltaS), EYFP, SAMY, SEAP), differentiation-modulating (human C/EBP-alpha) and therapeutic (human VEGF) transgenes in a variety of rodent (CHO-K1, C2C12) and human cell lines (HT-1080, K-562), human and mouse primary cells (NHDF, PBMC, CD4+) as well as chicken embryos. Lentiviral design concepts include (i) binary systems harboring constitutive streptogramin-dependent transactivator (PIT) and PIT-responsive transgene expression units on separate lentivectors; (ii) streptogramin-responsive promoters (P(PIR8)) placed 5' of desired transgenes; (iii) within modified enhancer-free 3'-long terminal repeats; and (iv) bidirectional autoregulated configurations providing streptogramin-responsive transgene expression in a lentiviral one-vector format. Rigorous quantitative analysis revealed HIV-based direct P(PIR)-transgene configurations to provide optimal regulation performance for (i) adjustable expression of intracellular and secreted product proteins, (ii) regulated differential differentiation of muscle precursor cell lines into adipocytes or osteoblasts and (iii) conditional vascularization fine-tuning in chicken embryos. Similar performance could be achieved by engineering streptogramin-responsive transgene expression into an autoregulated one-vector format. Powerful transduction systems equipped with adjustable transcription modulation options are expected to greatly advance sophisticated molecular interventions in clinically and/or biotechnologically relevant primary cells and cell lines.

Viral evolution as a tool to improve the tetracycline-regulated gene expression system

We present viral evolution as a novel and powerful method to optimize non-viral proteins. We used this approach to optimize the tetracycline (Tc)-regulated gene expression system (Tet system) for its function in mammalian cells. The components of the Tet system were incorporated in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 virus such that viral replication is controlled by this regulatory system. Upon long term replication of this HIV-rtTA virus in human T cells, we obtained a virus variant with an enhanced replication potential resulting from an improved rtTA component of the introduced Tet system. We identified a single amino acid exchange, F86Y, which enhances the transcriptional activity and doxycycline (dox) sensitivity of rtTA. We generated a new rtTA variant that is 5-fold more active at high dox levels than the initial rtTA, and 25-fold more sensitive to dox, whereas the background activity in the absence of dox is not increased. This new rtTA variant will be very useful in biological applications that require a more sensitive or active Tet system. Our results demonstrate that the viral evolution strategy can be used to improve the activity of genes by making them an integral and essential part of the virus.

Mutational analysis of two zinc-finger motifs in the nucleocapsid protein of simian immunodeficiency virus mac239

To clarify the physiological function of two zinc-finger (ZF) motifs in the nucleocapsid (NC) protein of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), we constructed three mutant viruses with alterations in either or both motifs using a molecular clone of SIVmac (SIVmac239). An immunoblot analysis of the cell lysates transfected with DNA mutated in either the first (ZF1) or second (ZF2) motif showed that the amount of partially processed Gag products (Pr46) was greater than that produced by the wild-type (WT). The genomic RNA contents in the viral particles released from the transfected cells were measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Values for the ZF1 and ZF2 mutants and the double mutant were 26, 20 and 7 % that of the WT, respectively, indicating that the two ZF motifs of SIVmac239 NC protein function almost equivalently with respect to RNA encapsidation and processing of Gag precursors. Despite the presence of some genomic RNA in the mutant viruses, they lost all viral infectivity. To determine the reason for this, we examined (using PCR) to which step viral DNA synthesis proceeded in the mutant viruses. We did not see any block up to the step of minus-strand DNA synthesis. However, plus-strand DNA synthesis after plus-strand transfer did not occur in any of the mutant viruses. These findings indicated that the mutations in the ZF motifs of SIVmac led to a loss of infectivity due partly to impairment of DNA synthesis, in addition to inefficient encapsidation of genomic RNA.

Efficient human immunodeficiency virus replication requires a fine-tuned level of transcription

Transcription represents a crucial step in the life cycle of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and is highly regulated. Here we show that the strength of the viral long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter is optimized for efficient replication. Artificially increasing the rate of LTR-driven transcription was strongly detrimental for viral fitness, and HIV was able to regain replication capacity by selecting for variants with a weaker LTR. Strikingly, the strength of the evolved promoter was equivalent to that of the wild-type LTR.

Using SHIVs to develop an anti-HIV-1 live-attenuated vaccine

The use of chimeric simian and human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) that encode HIV-1 Env and are infectious to macaques has made it possible to analyze the pathogenicity of HIV-1 in vivo, and to evaluate the efficacy of candidate vaccines in macaques. In addition, we believe that gene-deleted SHIVs could potentially be used as anti-HIV-1 live-attenuated vaccines. Gene-deleted SHIVs replicate transiently, are non-pathogenic and induce strong protection against challenge infection. The most important advantage of gene-deleted SHIVs is that their efficacy and safety can be evaluated in macaques before they are used in humans.

In vitro evolution of a highly replicating, doxycycline-dependent HIV for applications in vaccine studies

A major concern associated with the use of vaccines based on live-attenuated viruses is the possible and well documented reversion to pathogenic phenotypes. In the case of HIV, genomic deletions or mutations introduced to attenuate viral pathogenicity can be repaired by selection of compensating mutations. These events lead to increased virus replication rates and, eventually, disease progression. Because replication competence and degree of protection appear to be directly correlated, further attenuation of a vaccine virus may compromise the ability to elicit a protective immune response. Here, we describe an approach toward a safe attenuated HIV vaccine. The system is not based on permanent reduction of infectivity by alteration of important viral genomic sequences, but on strict control of replication through the insertion of the tetracycline (Tet) system in the HIV genome. Furthermore, extensive in vitro evolution was applied to the prototype Tet-controlled HIV to select for variants with optimized rather than diminished replication capacity. The final product of evolution has properties uniquely suited for use as a vaccine strain. The evolved virus is highly infectious, as opposed to a canonically attenuated virus. It replicates efficiently in T cell lines and in activated and unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Most importantly, replication is strictly dependent on the nontoxic Tetanalogue doxycycline and can be turned on and off. These results suggest that this in vitro evolved, doxycycline-dependent HIV might represent a useful tool toward the development of a safer, live-attenuated HIV vaccine.

Strict control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication by a genetic switch: Tet for Tat

Live-attenuated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) variants have shown great promise as AIDS vaccines, but continued replication can lead to the selection of faster-replicating variants that are pathogenic. We therefore designed HIV-1 genomes that replicate exclusively upon addition of the nontoxic effector doxycycline (dox). This was achieved by replacement of the viral TAR-Tat system for transcriptional activation by the Escherichia coli-derived Tet system for inducible gene expression. These designer "HIV-rtTA" viruses replicate in a strictly dox-dependent manner both in a T-cell line and in primary blood cells, and the rate of replication can be fine-tuned by simple variation of the dox concentration. These HIV-rtTA viruses provide a tool to perform genetics, e.g., selection and optimization experiments, with the E. coli-derived Tet reagents in a eukaryotic background. Furthermore, such viruses may represent improved vaccine candidates because their replication can be turned on and off at will.