Th1/Th2 cytokine responses following HIV‐1 immunization in seronegative volunteers

• Published in: Clinical and experimental immunology 1998-02, Vol.111 (2), p.243-250
• Main Authors: EVANS, T. G, FITZGERALD, T, GIBBONS, D. C, KEEFER, M. C, SOUCIER, H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied microbiology; Biological and medical sciences; cytokines; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HIV‐1; immunization; Microbiology; Original; Th1/Th2; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies (general aspects)
• ISSN: 0009-9104; 1365-2249
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.1998.00486.x

The Th1/Th2 profile that follows human vaccination may profoundly influence the subsequent course of disease after infection. However, the ability to detect IL‐4 has been limited outside trials of live vaccination. By using methods in which memory effector cells are allowed to antigenically expand by short term culture, followed by low‐dose mitogenic stimulation, we have been able to follow the Th1/Th2 profile in HIV‐1−volunteers enrolled in two phase I studies of HIV immunogens (a recombinant gp120 and a multivalent, octomeric V3 loop peptide). Antigen‐specific interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ) could be detected in primary stimulation, but IL‐4 was observed only after antigenic expansion and restimulation. In both of these studies the responses after initial immunizations were dominated by IFN‐γ, with IL‐4 appearing only after multiple rounds of immunization, and IL‐4 was temporally related to antibody production. Concomitant with the IL‐4 production, the amount of supernatant IFN‐γ declined. Antigen‐specific IL‐10 was not detected in either study. Such techniques, which have been shown to correlate with outcomes in immunotherapy, may prove useful as future surrogates of human vaccine response.