Construction of a Live-Attenuated HIV-1 Vaccine through Genetic Code Expansion

Authors

Nanxi Wang, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Yue Li, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Wei Niu, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Ming Sun, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Ronald Cerny, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Qingsheng Li, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jiantao Guo, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2014

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition 53:19 (2014), pp. 4867–4871; doi: 10.1002/anie.201402092

Comments

Copyright © 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Used by permission.

Abstract

A safe and effective vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is urgently needed to combat the worldwide AIDS pandemic, but still remains elusive. The fact that uncontrolled replication of an attenuated vaccine can lead to regaining of its virulence creates safety concerns precluding many vaccines from clinical application. We introduce a novel approach to control HIV-1 replication, which entails the manipulation of essential HIV-1 protein biosynthesis through unnatural amino acid (UAA*)-mediated suppression of genome-encoded blank codon. We successfully demonstrate that HIV-1 replication can be precisely turned on and off in vitro.

Includes supporting information.