title: Progress in the development of an HIV-1 vaccine.
abstract: Containment of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic will require an effective human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine. Accumulating evidence suggests that such a vaccine must efficiently elicit an HIV-1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response. Nonhuman primate models will continue to provide an important tool for assessing the extent of protective immunity induced by various immunization strategies. Although replication-competent AIDS viruses attenuated for pathogenicity by selective gene deletions have provided protective immunity in nonhuman primate models, the long-term safety of such vaccines in human populations is suspect. Inactivated virus and subunit vaccines have elicited neither CTLs nor antibodies capable of neutralizing a wide array of patient HIV-1 isolates. Considerable effort is now being focused on evaluating live vector-based vaccine and plasmid DNA vaccine approaches for preventing HIV-1 infection both in animal model and human studies. Our growing understanding of the biology of HIV-1 and immune responses to this virus will continue to suggest improved vaccination approaches for exploration.
authors.affiliation: The author is at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA. nletvin@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Letvin
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000276:immunology; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic