Therapeutic Vaccine Based on aDC1 Dendritic Cells for the Control of Viremia After ATI in HIV Infected Individuals

Overview

The goal of this interventional study is to validate the strategy of adjuvant therapy with dendritic cells in HIV infection in chronically infected individuals. The main questions it aims to answer are related to the safety and tolerance of the intervention and the virological and immunological impact of immunotherapy with aDC1 in HIV-infected individuals. The study will include 30 diagnosed HIV-infected patients, using antiretroviral therapy, who will be immunized with aDC1 or placebo according to the arms of this study: G1) placebo; G2) aDC1immunization; G3) aDC1 immunization with analytical treatment interruption of ART.

Dendritic cell based immunotherapy is a potential tool to stimulate a specific immune response, as a complementary treatment for HIV-infected individuals using ART. Polarizing DCs are capable to produce high levels of IL-12p70 and induce a strong cytotoxic response that is very useful in viral infections. In this context, we propose to study aDC1 pulsed with relevant HIV peptides for treatment of HIV infected individuals. The study will include 30 diagnosed HIV-infected patients, using antiretroviral therapy, who will be immunized with aDC1 or placebo according to the arms of this study: G1) placebo; G2) aDC1immunization; G3) aDC1 immunization with analytical treatment interruption of ART. Autologous PBMCs will be collected for baseline parameters and vaccine will be inoculated in 3 doses (with 4 week interval). Three weeks after 3th vaccine inoculation, patients will be followed for 6 months and blood and biopsis samples will be collected for different parameters measurement as immune activation, immunogenicity, humoral response, mucosal cellular immunity and virologic profile and viral reservoir analysis.