South African HIV-1 vaccine candidates - the journey from the bench to clinical trials.
Around 2.5 million people become infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year. This extraordinary toll in human life and public health worldwide will only be reversed with effective prevention. Vaccination is regarded as the most effective way to prevent infectious disease. However, there are many challenges to overcome before a successful prophylactic HIV vaccine will be available.   We are participating in a global effort to develop and test candidate HIV vaccines. Two candidate prophylactic HIV vaccines that were designed and developed at the University of Cape Town (UCT) entered phase 1 clinical trials in the USA and South Africa in 2009, after a 9-year development period. In addition to the vaccines in clinical trial, there is a pipeline of candidate HIV-1 subtype C vaccines including virus-like particles, novel DNA vaccines, capripoxvirus and Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-vectored vaccines. This article describes the history of HIV vaccine research at UCT, and the partnerships that made the project possible.
Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town. anna-lise.williamson@uct.ac.za
Anna-Lise
AL
Williamson
Ed
E
Rybiki
Enid
E
Shephard
Glenda
G
Gray
Linda-Gail
LG
Bekker
Katrina
K
Downing
Carolyn
C
Williamson
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000266:history*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D013019:South Africa; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration
D016915:AIDS Vaccines