Broadly Neutralizing HIV Antibodies: Uses in Immunotherapy and Vaccine Development

Abstract

Though Human Immunodeficiency Virus has been studied for over thirty years, it remains one of the most devastating and difficult to treat diseases known to man. Due to HIV’s high frequency of mutation and the heavy glycosylation surrounding the viral envelope proteins, the virus provides a difficult target for immune response and treatment methods. Vaccine development in particular is complicated by the need to identify conserved epitopes against which to elicit immune response. Recent investigation into the role broadly neutralizing antibodies play in combating HIV has made them a key tool in immunotherapy and of particular interest in the development of vaccine strategies. This paper characterizes the effect that broadly neutralizing antibody responses have on HIV as well as the viral epitopes that elicit these responses in order to illuminate the most effective ways to use these antibodies to combat existing HIV infections and to evaluate their potential in vaccine design.