HIV-1 Tat-based vaccines: an overview and perspectives in the field of HIV/AIDS vaccine development.
The HIV epidemic continues to represent one of the major problems worldwide, particularly in the Asia and Sub-Saharan regions of the world, with social and economical devastating effects. Although antiretroviral drugs have had a dramatically beneficial impact on HIV-infected individuals that have access to treatment, it has had a negligible impact on the global epidemic. Hence, the inexorable spreading of the HIV pandemic and the increasing deaths from AIDS, especially in developing countries, underscore the urgency for an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS. However, the generation of such a vaccine has turned out to be extremely challenging. Here we provide an overview on the rationale for the use of non-structural HIV proteins, such as the Tat protein, alone or in combination with other HIV early and late structural HIV antigens, as novel, promising preventative and therapeutic HIV/AIDS vaccine strategies.
Caputo
Antonella
A
Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Gavioli
Riccardo
R
Bellino
Stefania
S
Longo
Olimpia
O
Tripiciano
Antonella
A
Francavilla
Vittorio
V
Sgadari
Cecilia
C
Paniccia
Giovanni
G
Titti
Fausto
F
Cafaro
Aurelio
A
Ferrantelli
Flavia
F
Monini
Paolo
P
Ensoli
Fabrizio
F
Ensoli
Barbara
B
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy; D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; C421254:human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat vaccine