Method for inducing cross-reactive immune responses to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a host by administering feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) capsid (CA) or reverse transcriptase (RT) immunogens
View Patent ↗The subject invention pertains to materials and methods for detecting, preventing and treating retroviral infections in humans and other animals susceptible to infection by retrovirus. It has been discovered that FIV can be transmitted from cats to humans and that the FIV can infect human cells in vivo and that antibodies generated by the infected person cross-react with HIV antigens. Thus, the methods and compositions of the subject invention can be used to detect, prevent and treat FIV infection in humans and other non-feline animals that are susceptible to FIV infection. The methods and compositions of the invention can also be used to prevent and treat infection by HIV in humans.
1. A method for inducing an immune response to a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a human, said method comprising administering an effective amount of a feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) immunogen to the human to induce said immune response, wherein said FIV immunogen comprises an epitope of an FIV p24 or FIV reverse transcriptase (RT) protein wherein said epitope is evolutionarily conserved between FIV and HIV.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen induces a humoral immune response.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen induces a cellular immune response.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen induces an immune response against one or more subtypes of FIV.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the human is not infected with HIV.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the human is infected with HIV.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen is administered to the human and an effective amount of an HIV immunogen is subsequently administered to the human.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen is administered parenterally, orally, or nasally.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen is administered subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or intramuscularly.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises administering an antiretroviral drug.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said FIV immunogen induces an immune response against a strain of FIV that is heterologous to said FIV immunogen and against a strain of FIV that is homologous to said FIV immunogen.
12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said method comprises administering an effective amount of an HIV protein with said FIV immunogen.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said HIV protein is an HIV p24 or an HIV envelope protein.
14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said antiretroviral drug is a nucleoside analog, a non-nucleoside inhibitor of a retroviral reverse transcriptase, or a retroviral protease inhibitor.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein said nucleoside analog is azidothymidine (AZT) or lamivudine (3TC).