HIV Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about HIV, including details on human immunodeficiency virus, testing, treatment, prevention, vaccines, aids.

No vaccine against HIV yet--are we not perfectly equipped?

Singh M

Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. mahendersh@juno.com

Enormous effort has been devoted to the development of a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). But it is proving to be an unprecedented challenge to create an effective vaccine mainly due to the high genetic variability of the virus and the necessity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) for containing the infection. Currently pursued vaccine strategies appear to induce CTL in nonhuman primate models but in the early clinical trials, these strategies fail to fully control the viral infection. New strategies that can cover the vast genetic diversity of HIV are needed for the development of a potent vaccine.

Published 12 September 2006 in Virol J, 3: 60.
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