Small steps forward for HIV vaccine development

Abstract

A trial of a therapeutic vaccine against HIV induces cellular immunity and, although it provides hope, it highlights the hurdles for the development of such strategies.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of HIV viral load (VL) kinetics during acute and recent HIV infection and upon antiretroviral treatment interruption.

Viral reservoir seeding occurs after the first days of HIV acquisition, and cellular and humoral responses are induced during acute and early HIV infection while the reservoir increases progressively in viral diversity. Mosaic vaccines are designed to tackle HIV diversity and to induce both antibody and HIV-specific T cells. In the study by Colby et al., mosaic vaccines were immunogenic and able to delay HIV viral rebound after antiretroviral treatment interruption. Ongoing studies will clarify how vaccine-induced responses match the sequences of preexisting and rebounding viruses.