HIV Vaccine Development: Lessons from the Past and Promise for the Future

Author: Spearman P.

Source: Current HIV Research, Volume 1, Number 1, January 2003 , pp. 101-120(20)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

The global HIV epidemic continues to expand, exceeding previous predictions and causing tremendous suffering. An effective vaccine represents the best hope to curtail the HIV epidemic. The past fifteen years of HIV vaccine clinical trials have not identified an ideal HIV vaccine, but have provided many valuable lessons that contribute to the current generation of promising HIV vaccine regimens. An enhanced understanding of HIV and SIV immunopathogenesis has facilitated the design of vaccination regimens that elicit specific immune responses and effector mechanisms. Intensive investigation of recombinant gp120 subunit vaccines has revealed a previously unexpected complexity in eliciting neutralizing antibodies that are active against primary isolate viruses. The importance of CD8+ CTL responses in controlling HIV and SIV viremia has led to a series of vaccine candidates that effectively induce these responses. Proof that vaccination can prevent SIV / HIV disease has now been obtained in simian models of AIDS. A number of promising HIV vaccine regimens are currently being evaluated in human trials, and the pipeline of new vaccine vectors and combination regimens appears robust. Although challenges to the development of a safe and effective global HIV vaccine remain, the outlook for HIV vaccines in the future is bright.

Keywords: gp120; hiv vaccine; poxvirus; neutralization; cytotoxic t-lymphocyte

Language: English

Document Type: Review article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570162033352093

Publication date: 2003-01-01

• Current HIV Research aims to cover all the latest and outstanding developments of HIV research. We invite comprehensive review articles and novel, pioneering work in the basic and clinical fields on all areas of HIV research, including virus replication and gene expression, HIV assembly, virus-cell interaction, viral pathogenesis, epidemiology and transmission, anti-retroviral therapy and adherence, drug discovery, the latest developments in HIV/AIDS vaccines and animal models, mechanisms and interactions with AIDS related diseases, social and public health issues related to HIV disease, and prevention of viral infection. Each issue of the journal contains a series of timely in-depth reviews and original research written by leaders in the field covering a range of current topics on HIV research. Periodically, the journal will invite guest editors to devote an issue on a particular area of HIV research of great interest that increases our understanding of the virus and its complex interaction with the host.

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