Reacción a "Further progress towards an effective HIV vaccine through a sequential approach"

The studies are of very high quality and important for the development of effective HIV vaccines. 

The reason why we have not yet been able to develop an effective HIV vaccine is that we have not been able to induce immune responses with the production of neutralising antibodies (bNabs) with a broad spectrum of action against the different HIV variants with the different forms of vaccines tested. Different research groups have been testing modified forms of HIV envelope protein (Env) administration in animal models to achieve the production of such bNabs antibodies. What the articles published in Science demonstrate are important advances towards achieving such a diversity of neutralising antibodies by designing Env antigens with selective mutations and vaccination protocols that aim to produce B lymphocytes that have matured in the germinal centres and have the capacity to produce bNabs with a broad spectrum of action.  

Limitations are imposed by pre-clinical testing in animal models, which, while necessary and important, does not accurately reflect what happens in humans. However, the data provided favour the use of such protocols in clinical trials, which are already underway. As in any scientific process, we should not extrapolate from the results to the development of an HIV vaccine, but we should stress the importance of the recent publications as a more direct step towards finding the most rational and effective type of Nabs antibodies. 

Clinical results will tell us how far we have come with this type of vaccine approach of progressive immunisations. A glimmer of hope is opening towards understanding how best to attack HIV so many years after its identification as the causative agent of AIDS in 1983.