Is developing an HIV-1 vaccine possible?
OBJECTIVE
This review discusses select recent data that suggest that indeed it is possible to make a clinically useful preventive vaccine for HIV-1 and outlines some of the remaining obstacles that stand in the way of success.


RESULTS
Passive protection studies, with broad neutralizing antibodies for mucosal simian-HIV challenges, in nonhuman primates have suggested that lower doses of neutralizing antibodies than previously thought may be effective in preventing HIV-1 infection. The use of recombinant antibody technology coupled with the ability to culture single memory B cells has yielded new broad neutralizing antibodies and new targets for vaccine design. The success of the RV144 Thai HIV-1 efficacy trials with a replication-defective recombinant canarypox vector (ALVAC)/gp120 prime, clade B/E recombinant gp120 protein boost showing 31% efficacy has given hope that indeed a protective HIV-1 vaccine can be made.


CONCLUSIONS
Recent data in the last year have provided new hope that a clinically useful preventive HIV-1 vaccine can potentially be made. The path forward will require development of improved immunogens, understanding the correlates of protection to HIV-1, and development of immunogens to induce antibodies that can prevent the initial stages of HIV-1 infection at mucosal sites, in order to improve on the RV144 trial results.
Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA. hayne002@mc.duke.edu
Barton F
BF
Haynes
Hua-Xin
HX
Liao
Georgia D
GD
Tomaras
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000276:immunology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing