Nonstructural HIV proteins as targets for prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines

By the end of 2004, more than 20 HIV-1 vaccine candidates will have entered clinical testing in at least 30 trials worldwide. Almost half of these vaccines include nonstructural HIV-1 gene products. This represents an important innovation in the HIV vaccine field, because until 9 years ago not even preclinical testing in small animal models had been carried out with such immunogens. This review briefly discusses the experimental evidence that provides the rationale for the use of nonstructural HIV-1 gene products as vaccine antigens, and summarizes the current status and the future development of these novel vaccines.