Comparative evaluation of simian, simian-human, and human immunodeficiency virus infections in the pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina) model

Abstract

The global impact of HIV/AIDS intensifies the need for a preventive vaccine and nonhuman primate models can help provide critical insights into effective immunity. Pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina) are increasingly studied as a nonhuman primate model for AIDS. We compared the virologic and immunologic characteristics of HIV-1, SIV, and SHIV infection of naive pigtail macaques across a series of preclinical HIV vaccine studies. SIVmac251 and SIVmac239 infection of naive pigtail macaques resulted in a gradual decline in peripheral CD4+ T cells in the setting of high levels of viremia, approximating most closely human infection of HIV-1. In contrast, the CXCR4-utilizing SHIVmn229 virus resul..