title: Diversity considerations in HIV-1 vaccine selection.
abstract: Globally, human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) is extraordinarily variable, and this diversity poses a major obstacle to AIDS vaccine development. Currently, candidate vaccines are derived from isolates, with the hope that they will be sufficiently cross-reactive to protect against circulating viruses. This may be overly optimistic, however, given that HIV-1 envelope proteins can differ in more than 30% of their amino acids. To contend with the diversity, country-specific vaccines are being considered, but evolutionary relationships may be more useful than regional considerations. Consensus or ancestor sequences could be used in vaccine design to minimize the genetic differences between vaccine strains and contemporary isolates, effectively reducing the extent of diversity by half.
authors.affiliation: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaschen
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yusim
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Novitsky
authors.forename: Barton
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: Beatrice H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Tanmoy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: Bette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Korber
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D003429:Cross Reactions; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015488:HIV Antigens