J Virol. 2009 Oct; 83(20):10596-604.

PubMed ID: 19656883

Systemic and mucosal T-lymphocyte activation induced by recombinant adenovirus vaccines in rhesus monkeys

Sun Y, Bailer RT, Rao SS, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ, Koup RA, Letvin NL

The administration of vectors designed to elicited cell-mediated immune responses may have other consequences that are clinically significant. To explore this possibility, we evaluated T-cell activation during the first 2 months after recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) prime or boost immunizations in rhesus monkeys. We also evaluated the kinetics of T-lymphocyte activation in both the systemic and the mucosal compartments after rAd5 administration in monkeys with preexisting immunity to Ad5. The rAd5 immunization induced lower-frequency Gag epitope-specific CD8+ T cells in the colonic mucosa than in the peripheral blood. There was evidence of an expansion of the simian immunodeficiency virus Gag-specific CD8+ T-cell responses, but not the Ad5 hexon-specific T-cell responses, following a homologous rAd5 boost. A striking but transient T-lymphocyte activation in both the systemic and the mucosal compartments of rhesus monkeys was observed after rAd5 immunization. These findings indicate that the administration of a vaccine vector such as Ad5 can induce a global activation of T cells.