HIV Virion Capturing Liposomes for Therapeutic Vaccination

HIV infection currently has no effective cures and requires lifelong antiretroviral treatments. Cures have failed due to HIV's immune evasion and rapid mutation rate. Here we present a first in class HIV therapeutic vaccine, termed nanotrap therapeutic vaccines (NTVs) that are designed to capture circulating HIV virions and facilitate internalization by local antigen presenting cells. NTVs are modified liposomes that display the CD4 mimetic molecule, CJF-III-288, on their surfaces and have the TLR 7/8 agonist R848 loaded into their core. We show that NTVs can 1) bind gp120 and capture pseudoviral particles, 2) facilitate uptake by antigen presenting cells and 3) generate robust anti-HIV CD8 T cell immunity in transient infection mouse models. NTVs have translational potential to generate patient-specific HIV immunity.