P08-06 LB. A genome-wide association study of host genetic determinants of T cell responses to the MRKAd5 HIV-1 gag/pol/nef vaccine in the STEP trial

Induction of immunity to human immunodeficiency virus type-1 by vaccination

Recent findings have brought optimism that development of a successful human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) vaccine lies within reach. Studies of early events in HIV-1 infection have revealed when and where HIV-1 is potentially vulnerable to vaccine-targeted immune responses. With technical advances in human antibody production, clues about how antibodies recognize HIV-1 envelope proteins have uncovered new targets for immunogen design. A recent vaccine regimen has shown modest efficacy against HIV-1 acquisition. However, inducing long-term T and B cell memory and coping with HIV-1 diversity remain high priorities. Mediators of innate immunity may play pivotal roles in blocking infection and shaping immunity; vaccine strategies to capture these activities are under investigation. Challenges remain in integrating basic, preclinical and clinical research to improve predictions of types of immunity associated with vaccine efficacy, to apply these insights to immunogen design, and to accelerate evaluation of vaccine efficacy in persons at-risk for infection.

Progress towards development of an HIV vaccine: report of the AIDS Vaccine 2009 Conference

The search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine is steadily moving ahead, generating and validating new concepts in terms of novel vectors for antigen delivery and presentation, new vaccine and adjuvant strategies, alternative approaches to design HIV-1 antigens for eliciting protective cross-neutralising antibodies, and identification of key mechanisms in HIV infection and modulation of the immune system. All these different perspectives are contributing to the unprecedented challenge of developing a protective HIV-1 vaccine. The high scientific value of this massive effort is its great impact on vaccinology as a whole, providing invaluable scientific information for the current and future development of new preventive vaccine as well as therapeutic knowledge-based infectious-disease and cancer vaccines.