HIV-1 Preventive vaccines: an attainable goal?

Despite remarkable advances in HIV treatment, responsible for the saving of thousands of lives, the design of an effective HIV vaccine able to prevent infectivity and stop the AIDS epidemic remains a priority for health care. Publication of the first partly efficacious large-scale HIV vaccine trial in Thaïland in 2009 has durably transformed the HIV vaccine landscape, bringing in new hopes that an HIV protective vaccine may be doable. New correlates of protection have been identified, new HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies are regularly reported, and the importance of T-effector memory cells in protection has definitely been demonstrated. In this review, we explore the difficulties encountered in designing an HIV vaccine, relate the long road already traveled, with its many failures, describe the main vaccine strategies currently under test, which explain the current moderate optimism in HIV vaccine research.