A Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Vaccinia-HIV-1 IIIB Env/Gag/Pol Vaccine (TBC-3B)

To evaluate, in healthy HIV-1 seronegative vaccinia-immune and vaccinia-naive volunteers, the safety and immunogenicity of an HIV-1 candidate vaccine (TBC-3B) consisting of a live recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the env, gag, and pol genes of HIV-1 IIIB strain. To evaluate the potential of boosting with one of a variety of HIV-1 recombinant subunit, peptide, or pseudovirion vaccines, if available, to augment the immune responses of the vaccinees. Antigenic drift, defined as the genetic variation of the HIV-1 envelope gene that results in antigenic variation during natural infection, may confound attempts to achieve protective immunity using a vaccine based solely on HIV-1 envelope proteins. Inclusion of conserved core and polymerase proteins along with envelope protein in a candidate vaccine may address some of the problems with antigenic variability. A prime-boost immunization approach using a novel priming immunogen expressing env, gag, and pol genes of the HIV-1 IIIB strain will be attempted in this study.