Problems and emerging approaches in HIV/AIDS vaccine development.
According to recent estimates, 39.5 million people have been infected with HIV and 2.9 million have already died. The effect of HIV infection on individuals and communities is socially and economically devastating. Although antiretroviral drugs have had a dramatically beneficial impact on HIV-infected individuals who have access to treatment, it has had a negligible impact on the global epidemic. Therefore, the need for an efficacious HIV/AIDS vaccine remains the highest priority of the world HIV/AIDS agenda. The generation of a vaccine against HIV/AIDS has turned out to be extremely challenging, as indicated by > 20 years of unsuccessful attempts. This review discusses the major challenges in the field and key experimental evidence providing a rationale for the use of non-structural HIV proteins, such as Rev, Tat and Nef, either in the native form or expressed by viral vectors such as a replicating adeno-vector. These non-structural proteins alone or in combination with modified structural HIV-1 Env proteins represent a novel strategy for both preventative and therapeutic HIV/AIDS vaccine development.
Titti
Fausto
F
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, National AIDS Center, V.le Regina Elena 299, Rome 00161, Italy.
Cafaro
Aurelio
A
Ferrantelli
Flavia
F
Tripiciano
Antonella
A
Moretti
Sonia
S
Caputo
Antonella
A
Gavioli
Riccardo
R
Ensoli
Fabrizio
F
Robert-Guroff
Marjorie
M
Barnett
Susan
S
Ensoli
Barbara
B
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000818:Animals; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000276:immunology
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins