Describe immune responses to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and discuss recent advances towards development of a safe protective vaccine against HIV.

Safe and effective HIV vaccines offer the most hope of stopping the spread of HIV disease worldwide. Although HIV transmission is in theory largely preventable, in practice, without the development of an effective vaccine, HIV will continue to infect millions throughout the world. The ideal vaccine for worldwide use will be inexpensive to manufacture, provide protection against all subtypes of HIV, require minimal if any boost, protect against all methods of spread of HIV for …

…conventional antiviral agents. Although studies in nonhuman primates have shown that neutralising antibodies can protect against infection by an AIDS virus, vaccine strategies for eliciting such immune responses remain elusive. These strategies mentioned in this essay included the use of plasmid DNA, live recombinant viral vectors, and combined modality or prime/boost approaches. Despite these encouraging advances, considerable challenges remain, and substantial progression must still be made to develop a safe and effective AIDS vaccine.