Vaccine development against HIV-1Current perspectives and future directions

The development of anefficacious vaccine against the human immuno deficiency virus (HIV) is of great urgency, because it is accepted that vaccination is the only means capable of controlling the AIDS pandemic. The foundation of HIV vaccine development is the analysis of immune responses during natural infection and the utilization of this knowledge for the development of protective immunization strategies. Initial vaccine development and experimentation are usually in animal models, including murine, feline, and nonhuman primates. Experimental vaccine can didates are closely studies for both efficacy and safety before proceeding to human clinical trials. There are anumber of different therapeutic and prophylactice vaccine strategies currently being studied in human clinical trials. Vaccine strategies that are being tested, or have previously been te sted, in humans include subunit, DNA plasmid, and viral vector, and combinations of these various strategies. Some of the results of these trials are promising, and additional research has focused on the development of appropriate chemical and genetic adjuvants as well as methods of vaccine delivery to improve the host immune response. This review summarizes the vaccine strategies that have been tested in both animal models and human clinical trials.