Toward oligosaccharide- and glycopeptide-based HIV vaccines

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and HIV type 1 (HIV-1) is responsible for the current global pandemic of HIV and AIDS. There is widespread agreement that the best hope to contain this pandemic is the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. The major difficulty in HIV vaccine design, however, is in identifying novel epitopes for inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies. Accumulating data have implied that the HIV-1 carbohydrates, which are a strong defense against host immune attack, can also serve as targets for vaccines. This notion was reinforced by the characterization of a novel oligomannose cluster on HIV-1 glycoprotein gp120 as the epitope of the broadly neutralizing antibody 2G12. This review describes the current status and prospective of the progress toward a carbohydrate-based HIV vaccine. Recent research on the design, synthesis and antigenicity of HIV-1 oligosaccharides and glycopeptide immunogens is also discussed.