Genetic variation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) represents a major obstacle for AIDS vaccine development. To decrease the genetic distances between candidate immunogens and field virus strains, we have designed and synthesized an artificial group M consensus env gene (CON6 gene) to be equidistant from contemporary HIV-1 subtypes and recombinants. This novel envelope gene expresses a g...

Interrogating immune correlates of infection risk for efficacious and non-efficacious HIV-1 vaccine clinical trials have provided hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of induction of protective immunity to HIV-1. To date, there have been six HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trials (VAX003, Vaxgen, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA), VAX004 (Vaxgen, Inc.), HIV-1 Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) 502 (Step), HVTN 50...

The partial efficacy of the recent HIV-1 vaccine trial in Thailand has rejuvenated the HIV vaccine field. There are now clear opportunities to dissect the potential correlates of protection against HIV-1. Comparisons of three major HIV-1 vaccine strategies used in human efficacy trials to date highlight a possible role for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicty (ADCC), rather than cytotoxic T ...

The development of an efficient prophylactic HIV vaccine has been one of the major challenges in infectious disease research during the last three decades. Here, we present a mini review on strategies employed for the development of HIV vaccines with an emphasis on a well-established vaccine technology, the killed whole-virus vaccine approach. Recently, we reported an evaluation of the safety a...

The induction of a balanced immune response targeting the major structural proteins, Gag and Env of HIV, is important for the development of an efficacious vaccine. The use of DNA plasmids expressing different antigens offers the opportunity to test in a controlled manner the influence of different vaccine components on the magnitude and distribution of the vaccine-induced cellular and humoral ...

It is believed likely that immune responses are responsible for controlling viral load and infection. In this study, when macaques were primed with plasmid DNA encoding SIV gag and pol genes (SIVgag/pol DNA) and then boosted with replication-deficient vaccinia virus DIs recombinant expressing the same genes (rDIsSIVgag/pol), this prime-boost regimen generated higher levels of Gag-specific CD4+ ...

The Step study of a recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5)-based human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine revealed an increased risk of HIV-1 acquisition in vaccinees who were Ad5 seropositive at baseline. We therefore investigated whether preexisting Ad seropositivity to 7 different Ad serotypes was associated with increased risk of HIV-1 infection in 3 HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial...

The development of a successful vaccine against HIV is a major global challenge. Antiretroviral therapy is the standard treatment against HIV-1 infection. However, only 46% of the eligible people received the therapy in 2015. Furthermore, suboptimal adherence poses additional obstacles. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an HIV-1 vaccine. The most promising clinical trial to date is Phase I...

introduction: vaccinology provides promising approaches for the control of various infectious diseases. among different strategies, dna vaccines offer attractive research opportunities for development of vaccines for induction of antigen-specific immunity owing to their stability, simplicity of delivery, safety and cost effectiveness. however, there is a need to increase their potency by the us...

objective: toxoplasmosis can lead to severe pathological effects in both infected humans and animals. the various dna vaccines against toxoplasma compose of single or cocktail antigens have been investigated but they have partial protective against disease. in this study, we used pcrop1 as a dna vaccine and aluminium phosphate and aluminium hydroxide to compare their efficacy as mineral adjuvan...