Mucosal priming with PEI/DNA complex and systemic boosting with recombinant TianTan vaccinia stimulate vigorous mucosal and systemic immune responses

Abstract An effective vaccine strategy for HIV-1 will probably requires the induction and maintenance of both humoral and cellular immunity. We tested a new prime–boost approach of intranasal priming with 10 μg DNA plasmid in the PEI/DNA complexes and boosting with 10 7  PFU of replicative recombinant TianTan vaccinia virus (rTTV) expressing HIV-1 Gag in BALB/c mice. Intranasal priming with PEI/DNA complexes elicited strikingly stronger HIV-specific T-cell ( p  = 0.0358) and IgA immune responses at mucosal sites of lung ( p  = 0.0445) and vaginal tract ( p  = 0.0469) than intranasal priming with naked DNA, though both are followed by the same rTTV boosting. Furthermore, an intramuscular boosting with rTTV could profoundly enhance both T-cell and antibody immune responses raised by intranasal priming. These results demonstrate that the combination of intranasal priming with PEI/DNA complexes and systemic boosting with rTTV is a preferable regimen for induction of both T-cell and humoral immune responses.