HIV vaccines: where we are and where we are going.

As the HIV-1 epidemic continues to spread world wide, the need for an effective vaccine remains urgent. Efforts to develop such a vaccine have been hampered by three main factors: (a) the extraordinary ability of the virus to mutate; (b) inability of most known specificities of anti-HIV antibodies to neutralise HIV primary isolates consistently; and (c) lack of understanding of the correlates of protective immunity to HIV infection. In view of the complex biology of HIV-host interactions, the most fruitful avenue may be development of multivalent HIV immunogens tailored to HIV isolates in specific geographical locations.

Duke Scholars

Author Barton Ford Haynes Medicine, Duke Human Vaccine Institute