In the last years, the importance of DC8+ cellular immune answer has been reinforced in the protection against HIV-1. One of the technologies that have offered better results in the induction of answers from citotoxic T cells (CTL) is the use of live vectors as vaccines. The avian smallpox virus (ASV) is a vector which has been used in humans without any danger, because its replication is totally cytoplasmatic and abortive in cells from mammals.

It is presented in this work, for the first time in Cuba, the generation of recombinant ASV (rASV) for HIV-1 polyepitope proteins and the immune answer assessment induced with these rASV in mice. There were chosen as targets the proteins TAB9 and CR3. TAB9 was chosen as a model because it contains an immunodominant team for CTL in BALB/c mouse. On the other hand, CR3 was designed to be used in clinical trials in human beings and it contains rich regions in CTL overlapped epitopes coming from several proteins of HIV-1. With these immunogens, it was evidenced the generation of a protective immune answer of BALB/c mice, characterized by the CTL presence against different epitopes from HIV-1 and a Th1 cytokines' pattern. Finally, it is also reported for the first time that an initial dose with a Modified Vaccinia Ankara virus (MVA) followed by a memory dose with rASV, induces a CTL answer more potent than each one separately or the inverse combination.

The results summarized in this work allowed proposing the assessment of the immunization with FPCR3 as therapeutic procedure in HIV/AIDS patients. Different international publications endorse this work, such as Journal of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics 2001, Viral Immunology 2001, Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 2002. Also, patent certificates in Cuba and several countries.