A Safe, Effective and Affordable HIV Vaccine – An Urgent Global Need
Joan Joseph 1, Florencia Etcheverry 1, José Alcamí 2, José María Gatell 1
1 NULL; 2 AIDS Immunopathogenesis Unit, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid; HIV Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona; CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid. Spain
*Correspondence: Florencia Etcheverry, Email not available
Abstract
The need for a safe, effective and affordable HIV vaccine has never been greater. In 2004 almost five millionpeople became infected with HIV. In addition, providing access to antiretrovirals in Africa remains ahuge challenge. A successful vaccine against HIV will probably need to stimulate the innate immunesystem, generate high levels of neutralizing antibodies, induce strong cellular immune responses andmucosal immunity, and should induce broad-spectrum immunity able to cover all HIV subtypes.In this review, we describe the limitations and challenges of developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine.We also emphasize possible approaches for overcoming immune escape in HIV infection, thelessons learned from the clinical trials of HIV-1 candidate vaccines, and the most important scientifichighlights of the Keystone 2005 Symposium. When an effective vaccine is eventually found, we willface the enormous task of making it accessible to those who need it most.
