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This article is part of the supplement: AIDS Vaccine 2009

Open Access Poster presentation

P05-05. Enhanced immunogenicity of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein trimers fused to CD40 ligand

M Melchers1, K Matthews2, T van Montfort1, I Bontjer1, D Eggink1, R de Vries1, E Michael2, K David2, JP Moore2, B Berkhout1 and RW Sanders2*

  • * Corresponding author: RW Sanders

Author Affiliations

1 Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2 Microbology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, USA

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Retrovirology 2009, 6(Suppl 3):P81 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-6-S3-P81

Published: 22 October 2009

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

Subunit vaccines are often poor immunogens compared to live-attenuated and whole-inactivated virus vaccines. One reason is the lack of costimulatory signals provided by various components of live-attenuated and whole-inactivated vaccines. Here we improved the immunogenicity of the HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) by direct fusion to a costimulatory molecule, CD40 ligand (CD40L), which we term 'cis-adjuvant'. The rationale was to target the antigen directly to dendritic cells (DC) and B cells, while at the same time activating these cells.