HIV vaccine strategies generally fall into two categories: those aimed at raising antibody responses, and those aimed at inducing high numbers of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), or killer T cells. In the early years of HIV vaccine development most approaches focused on antibodies. But researchers had difficulty developing vaccine immunogens that elicit an effective antibody response. The Hot Paper by Dan Barouch and colleagues, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), used rhesus monkeys and has helped the CTL strategy gain prominence.1 In that same year, two groups published proof-of-principle companion papers, which also became Hot Papers; their results implied that an antibody-boosting vaccine strategy also could be successful.2,3 Subsequent work has shown that both approaches have advantages and drawbacks, and that a combined strategy may provide the best level of protection against HIV.
The immune system's CTL response arm had been shown to be particularly important for controlling HIV replication. Researchers at ...
