{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T15:50:07Z","timestamp":1753890607081,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,10]],"date-time":"2025-04-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744243200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>HIV remains a major public health issue in spite of antiretroviral therapy (ART). An innovative vaccine that can induce long-lasting and effective immunity is required to curb the persistently high numbers of new infections worldwide.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A novel DNA vaccine was generated using a Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV) backbone with a Zambian T\/F clade C envelope and under the control of the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus long terminal repeats (LTRs) for constitutive expression. Due to the deleted integrase, this DNA vaccine \u201cCSH-DIN-T\/F Z331\u201d performs only a single replication cycle. To increase immunogenicity, the co-expression of apoptotic genes (BAX, BAK, or caspase 8) incorporated at the end of Pol was tested to promote the release of apoptotic bodies taken up by dendritic cells leading to cross-presentation of antigen. The three vaccines (CSH-DIN-T\/F Z331-BAX, CSH-DIN-T\/F Z331-BAK, and CSH-DIN-T\/F Z331-Cas8) were tested <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> for expression and <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> in BALB\/cJ mice for immunogenicity.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Transduced HEK293 cells co-cultured with CEMx174 confirmed the single replication cycle of the DNA vaccine and the induction of apoptosis by CSH-DIN-T\/F Z331-Cas8 based on Annexin V expression. BALB\/cJ mice were immunized with a combined intramuscular + intradermal\/electroporation approach. Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) from splenocytes collected 12 weeks post-prime\/6 weeks post-boost demonstrated a clear superiority of caspase 8 expressing construct over the others, with higher proportions of IFN-\u03b3-, IL-2-, and IL-21-producing CD8 T cells specific to Env, Gag, and Nef. The kinetics of immune response after various immunization schedules were also investigated.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>This novel single-cycle DNA vaccine with apoptotic genes demonstrated an enhanced immunogenicity primarily for antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2025.1481427","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,11]],"date-time":"2025-04-11T13:43:21Z","timestamp":1744379001000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Enhanced HIV immune responses elicited by an apoptotic single-cycle SHIV lentivector DNA vaccine"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Deepanwita","family":"Bose","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kenneth A.","family":"Rogers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lisa M.","family":"Shirreff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yahia","family":"Chebloune","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francois J.","family":"Villinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e173","DOI":"10.1016\/S2666-5247(21)00358-X","article-title":"Safety and immunogenicity of two recombinant DNA COVID-19 vaccines containing the coding regions of the spike or spike and nucleocapsid proteins: an interim analysis of two open-label, non-randomised, phase 1 trials in healthy adults","volume":"3","author":"Ahn","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Microbe"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2318","DOI":"10.4049\/jimmunol.178.4.2318","article-title":"Phenotypic and functional analysis of immune CD8+ T cell responses induced by a single injection of a HIV DNA vaccine in mice","volume":"178","author":"Arrode","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. 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