[Expression of gag gene of human immunodeficiency virus in recombinant vaccinia virus]

A fragment of HTLV-IIIB gag-gene, coding for the first 441 amino acids of the p53 gag-precursor was expressed in the recombinant vaccinia virus, vC5. Two HIV specific proteins were detected by western blot in CV-1 cells infected with vC5. Their relative molecular masses were 50 and 35 Kd, pointing out that the first of the proteins is a full length expression product of the cloned sequence, while the second one is a result of processing or abortive translation. Possibilities of using such a strain as a vaccine or in Western blot conformation test are discussed.