Fig. 1.

(A) A schematic representation of immunogen HIVconsv. Fourteen highly conserved clade consensus regions of HIV-1 proteins were assembled into a chimeric protein HIVconsv, whereby capital letters above bars indicate the clade used for the derivation of the consensus amino acid sequence [35]. The HIV-1 protein origins of conserved regions are color-coded. Approximate positions of peptides 31 and 93 are indicated. C-terminal epitopes (black) include immunodominant rhesus macaque and BALB/c CTL epitopes and mAb tag Pk facilitating pre-clinical monitoring. (B) The HIV-CORE 002 (COnserved REgions) [22] vaccinated a total of 23 volunteers in 4 arms (not shown). Volunteers 411, 418 and 421 concerned here received the indicated regimens of the following vaccines: DNA—4 mg of plasmid DNA pSG2.HIVconsv, ChAdV—5 × 10¹⁰ virus particles of non-replicating simian (chimpanzee) adenovirus 63-vectored vaccine ChAdV63.HIVconsv; and MVA—2 × 10⁸ non-replicating poxvirus-vectored vaccine MVA.HIVconsv. All vaccines were delivered by intramuscular needle injection into both arms.