Challenges and advances in AIDS vaccine research
Compared with the swift approval and mass use of COVID-19 vaccines,a successful AIDS vaccine is still elusive after over 30 years of research. The recent failure of a phase III trial of AIDS vaccine(HVTN 702)in South Africa has overshadowed the moderate hope raised by an earlier phase III trial(RV144)in Thailand,affirming the grand challenges for AIDS vaccine development. However,recent discoveries have been made in better understanding the maturation and functions of broadly neutralizing antibodies against global diverse HIV-1 strains in recent years,which raise some hope for development of effective AIDS vaccines. This paper reviews the major challenges and advances in recent AIDS vaccine research and hope to stimulate new ideas for development of successful AIDS vaccines in the future.
