REDUCTION IN SIV REPLICATION IN RHESUS MACAQUES INFUSED WITH AUTOLOGOUS LYMPHOCYTES ENGINEERED WITH ANTIVIRAL GENES

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of nonhuman primates is one of the most relevant animals models of HIV infection in humans. To test a potential anti-HIV gene therapy strategy in this model, CD4-en riched lymphocytes from three rhesus macaques were subjected to retrov irally mediated gene transfer with a vector expressing an antisense ta t/rev gene. This group of animals and three control macaques were subs equently infected with SIVmac239. Blood and lymph nodes from all macaq ues were sampled for more than a year to monitor the progress of infec tion. Although all animals became infected, the animals that received the lymphocytes engineered with the antisense vector demonstrated a si gnificant reduction in viral load in both peripheral blood and lymph n odes, had sustained numbers of CD4(+) cells, and exhibited little disr uption of lymph node architecture.