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Vaccines
Special Issues
Neutralizing Antibodies and Vaccine Development Against the HIV-1 Virus
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Neutralizing Antibodies and Vaccine Development Against the HIV-1 Virus

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "HIV Vaccines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 2791

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ann Jones Hessell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR 97006, USA
Interests: neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1; HIV-1 vaccine development; immunotherapy strategies with neutralizing antibodies; prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1; development of neutralizing antibodies in HIV-1 infection; monoclonal antibody cloning and characterization
Dr. Pooja Khatkar

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Vaccine Research Center, NIAID, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Interests: HIV-1 bnAbs; strategies for HIV-1 bnAbs development; challenges in HIV-1 vaccine development; HIV-1 and its complex mechanisms of immune evasion
Dr. Qingsheng Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Biological Sciences and Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
Interests: HIV-1 pathogenesis; HIV-1 vaccine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

HIV-1 is the etiological agent of AIDS in humans. As of 2022, 39 million people are living with HIV. Despite decades of research, the development of a potent HIV-1 vaccine still remains a challenge due to factors such as evolving virus genetic diversity, immune evasion and integration into the host genome, resulting in the virus becoming resistant to host immunity and treatments. Despite these obstacles, there is still an urgent need for the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine.

This Special Issue is intended to cover all the past and ongoing efforts in the development of an HIV-1 vaccine that uses broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against the HIV-1 virus. This is an attempt to compile up-to-date information regarding HIV-1 vaccine development and its related challenges. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • HIV-1 bnAbs;
  • Strategies for HIV-1 bnAbs development;
  • Challenges in HIV-1 vaccine development;
  • HIV-1 and its complex mechanisms of immune evasion.

We invite authors to contribute a research article or review for the Special Issue “Neutralizing Antibodies and Vaccines Development against the HIV-1 Virus” in Vaccines (ISSN: 2076-393X, impact factor 7.8).

Dr. Ann Hessell
Dr. Pooja Khatkar
Dr. Qingsheng Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • HIV-1
  • vaccine
  • broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs)
  • Neutralization assay
  • ELISA
  • microneutralization assay
  • surrogate assay
  • viral infectivity assay

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 889 KiB  
Article
Antiretroviral Therapy with Ritonavir-Boosted Atazanavir- and Lopinavir-Containing Regimens Correlates with Diminished HIV-1 Neutralization
by Eloisa Yuste, Horacio Gil, Felipe Garcia and Victor Sanchez-Merino
Vaccines 2024, 12(10), 1176; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12101176 - 17 Oct 2024
Viewed by 763
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The impact of virion maturation on neutralizing antibody responses in HIV treatment is not fully understood. This study examines whether antiretroviral regimens (ART) with boosted protease inhibitors (b-PI), which increase exposure to immature virions, affect neutralization capacity compared to Non-b-PI regimens. Methods: [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The impact of virion maturation on neutralizing antibody responses in HIV treatment is not fully understood. This study examines whether antiretroviral regimens (ART) with boosted protease inhibitors (b-PI), which increase exposure to immature virions, affect neutralization capacity compared to Non-b-PI regimens. Methods: Neutralization activity was assessed in 45 HIV-infected individuals on b-PI regimens and 56 on Non-b-PI regimens, adjusting for factors like infection duration, ART initiation, and immune markers. Individuals on b-PI regimens had significantly lower neutralization scores [mean: 6.1, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 5.3–6.9] than those on Non-b-PI regimens (mean: 8.9, 95% CI: 8.0–9.9; p < 0.0001). This difference was not explained by infection duration or CD4+ counts. CD4+/CD8+ ratios were positively associated with neutralization, while b-PI use was negatively associated. A regression model indicated that b-PI use significantly predicted lower neutralization scores (beta = −0.30, p = 0.049). Conclusions: These findings suggest that exposure to immature virions via b-PI use reduces neutralizing antibody responses, highlighting the importance of virion maturation in antibody induction. ART regimens promoting exposure to mature virions may enhance neutralization, with potential implications for HIV vaccine design. Further research is needed to explore implications for HIV vaccine design, especially using virus-like particles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neutralizing Antibodies and Vaccine Development Against the HIV-1 Virus)
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16 pages, 2879 KiB  
Article
The Association of HIV-1 Neutralization in Aviremic Children and Adults with Time to ART Initiation and CD4+/CD8+ Ratios
by Victor Sanchez-Merino, Miguel Martin-Serrano, Manuela Beltran, Beatriz Lazaro-Martin, Eloisa Cervantes, Manuel Oltra, Talia Sainz, Felipe Garcia, Maria Luisa Navarro and Eloisa Yuste
Vaccines 2024, 12(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12010008 - 20 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1546
Abstract
Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) bind and neutralize diverse HIV isolates and demonstrate protective effects in primate models and humans against specific isolates. To develop an effective HIV vaccine, it is widely believed that inducing these antibodies is crucial. However, the high somatic hypermutation [...] Read more.
Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) bind and neutralize diverse HIV isolates and demonstrate protective effects in primate models and humans against specific isolates. To develop an effective HIV vaccine, it is widely believed that inducing these antibodies is crucial. However, the high somatic hypermutation in bnAbs and the limited affinity of HIV Env proteins for bnAb germline precursors suggest that extended antigen exposure is necessary for their production. Consequently, HIV vaccine research is exploring complex sequential vaccination strategies to guide the immune response through maturation stages. In this context, the exploration of the factors linked to the generation of these antibodies across diverse age groups becomes critical. In this study, we assessed the anti-HIV-1 neutralization potency and breadth in 108 aviremic adults and 109 aviremic children under 15 years of age who were receiving ART. We used a previously described minipanel of recombinant viruses and investigated the factors associated with neutralization in these individuals. We identified individuals in both groups who were capable of neutralizing viruses from three different subtypes, with greater cross-neutralization observed in the adult group (49.0% vs. 9.2%). In both groups, we observed an inverse association between neutralization breadth and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio, as well as a direct association with the time to ART initiation. However, we found no association with time post-infection, cumulative ART duration, or CD8+ cell levels. The present study demonstrates that children receiving antiretroviral therapy generate broadly neutralizing responses to HIV-1, albeit with lower magnitude compared to adults. We also observed that neutralization breadth is associated with CD4+/CD8+ levels and time to treatment initiation in both children and adults living with HIV-1. Our interpretation of these results is that a delay in ART initiation could have prolonged the antigenic stimulation associated with viral replication and thus facilitate the capacity to elicit long-lasting broadly neutralizing responses. These results corroborate prior findings that show that HIV-1-neutralizing responses can persist for years, even at low antigen levels, implying an HIV-1 vaccine may induce lasting neutralizing antibody response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neutralizing Antibodies and Vaccine Development Against the HIV-1 Virus)
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