Biology of Early Infection and Impact on Vaccine Design
S. B. Justin Wong and Robert F. Siliciano
from: AIDS Vaccine Development: Challenges and Opportunities (Edited by: Wayne Koff, Patricia Kahn and Ian D. Gust). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2007)
Abstract
Recent studies are providing insights into the early events following exposure to HIV-1, knowledge that is important for the design of preventive vaccines. This chapter summarizes current understanding of these events, with the goal of defining more precisely the "point of no return" after which immune responses cannot eradicate HIV. One key early step is a rapid exponential expansion of the virus population, which occurs as soon as HIV reaches tissue sites with high concentrations of susceptible CD4+ T-cells. Preventing this initial expansion is likely to be critical for achieving sterilizing immunity with vaccines, since once high-level viremia is present, a stable virus reservoir is established in resting memory CD4+ T-cells, which precludes eradication even with potent antiretroviral drugs. For these reasons, vaccine development should focus on preventing HIV from initially accessing crucial tissue sites read more ...
