Evaluating the Effects of NKG2A Blockade in HIV Therapeutic Vaccine Responses

HIV Therapeutic vaccines are an important strategy in HIV cure research. The PENNVAX clinical study examines the efficacy of HIV vaccinations, and which HIV antigens should be included. In addition to therapeutic vaccines, another subject of interest is an inhibitor of NKG2A. NKG2A interactions with HLA-E inhibit immune cells, which hinders immunological responses. By blocking the NKG2A interaction, there could be boosting of immune responses. There have been some promising results with combining an NKG2A blockade with therapeutic cancer vaccinations; therefore, this project focuses on the combination of an HIV therapeutic vaccine (PENNVAX) and an anti-NKG2A mAb, 1B2-6. Cryopreserved PBMCs from the PENNVAX participants were co-cultured with 1B2-6 to determine the impact of the anti-NKG2A mAb on therapeutic vaccine-induced responses. Although our findings did not show significant differences as a group, there were some individuals with increased responses following vaccination and co-culture of 1B2-6. In the participants with increased responses by either vaccination or co-culture with 1B2-6, there were more robust responses with the combination of vaccination and 1B2-6. These results suggests that importance of individualized strategies to achieve HIV remission off ART.