Abstract
HIV replication highly interacts with host immunity resulting in life-long persistent virus
replication in the presence of adaptive immune responses. Development of an effective vaccine is a
key for control of global HIV epidemic, but immunization methods to induce effective anti-HIV
immune responses have not been established. We have been focusing on analyzing virus-host
immune interaction in vivo using animal models and applying findings to the development of
vaccines. We have developed a novel immunogen selectively inducing virus-specific CD8+ T-cell
responses and showed protective efficacy of vaccines against intrarectal SIV challenge. We have
also worked on antibody responses, and determined the polymorphism in germline immunoglobulin
genes in macaques and its association with induction of a particular class of anti-SIV neutralizing
antibody. We applied the knowledge in HIV research to HTLV and COVID-19, showing protective
efficacy of vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody against HTLV infection and viral suppression by
vaccine-induced CD8+ T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 in macaque models.
