INDUCTION OF CD8+ CYTOTOXIC T-CELLS BY IMMUNIZATION WITH PURIFIED HIV-1 ENVELOPE PROTEIN IN ISCOMS

To reduce the risks of immunization with killed or live attenuated virus vaccines, it may be advantageous to use a pure, defined antigen that contains determinants for both humoral and cellular immunity. However, although most non-living intact protein pre-parations induce antibodies and CD4+major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class Il-restricted helper and/or cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), they do not elicit CD8+ MHC class I restricted CTL1,2. Indeed, with a few exceptions3,4 it has not so far been possible to induce CD8+ CTL by immunizing with intact soluble proteins. We show here that a single subcutaneous immunization in mice with immunostimulating complexes containing either purified intact gploO envelope glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-l or influenza haemagglutinin results in reproducible and long-lasting priming of HIV specific or influenza-specific CD8+, MHC class I restricted CTL. © 1990 Nature Publishing Group.