A recombinant measles virus vaccine strongly reduces SHIV viremia and virus reservoir establishment in macaques

Replicative vectors derived from live-attenuated measles virus (MV) carrying additional non-measles vaccine antigens have long demonstrated safety and immunogenicity in humans despite pre-existing immunity to measles. Here, we report the vaccination of cynomolgus macaques with MV replicative vectors expressing simian-human immunodeficiency virus Gag, Env, and Nef antigens (MV-SHIV Wt) either wild type or mutated in the immunosuppressive (IS) domains of Nef and Env antigens (MV-SHIV Mt). We found that the inactivation of Nef and Env IS domains by targeted mutations led to the induction of significantly enhanced post-prime cellular immune responses. After repeated challenges with low doses of SHIV-SF162p3, vaccinees were protected against high viremia, resulting in a 2-Log reduction in peak viremia, accelerated viral clearance, and a decrease -even complete protection for nearly half of the monkeys- in reservoir cell infection. This study demonstrates the potential of a replicative viral vector derived from the safe and widely used measles vaccine in the development of a future human vaccine against HIV-1.