C56 Week 4

Experimental Design: We will determine the effect of HIV-1 Tat on the antibody type and production in response to influenza vaccine. We chose influenza vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine to differentiate the effects between T cell dependent and T cell independent humoral responses. These are also suggested to individuals who are immunocompromised, especially people infected with HIV-1. For this purpose, C5BL6/J mice will be treated with HIV-1 Tat for one dose a week until 3 weeks. On week 4, all the mice groups including control will be administered influenza vaccine, followed by a booster dose 2 weeks later. Antibody responses specific to influenza vaccine in the serum will be measured by quantifying the amount through ELISA. B cell population type will be determined by flow cytometric …show more content…
The mice will be divided into 4 groups as follows
Group 1 (24) - This group will receive vehicle (no HIV-1 Tat or influenza vaccine). This serves as control for all the other groups
Group 2 – This group will receive HIV-1 Tat at week 1 and week 3 intravenously at a dose of 500 ng (to determine the effect of only HIV-1 Tat).
Group 3 – This group will receive vehicle on week 1 and week 3, followed by influenza vaccine on week 4 and booster dose on week 7 (to determine the responses mediated only by influenza vaccine).
Group 4 – This group will receive HIV-1 Tat on week 1 and week 3, followed by influenza vaccine on week 4 and booster dose on week 7 (to determine the effect of HIV-1 Tat on influenza vaccine).
Group 5 - This group will receive vehicle on week 1 and week 3, followed by pneumococcal vaccine on week 4 and booster dose on week 7 (to determine the responses mediated only by influenza vaccine).
Group 6 - This group will receive HIV-1 Tat on week 1 and week 3, followed by pneumococcal vaccine on week 4 and booster dose on week 7 (to determine the effect of HIV-1 Tat on pneumococcal