Research on HIV/AIDS Vaccine

Dear Colleagues,

HIV is a deadly infectious disease, with 39 million people living with it and 1.3 million new infections in 2022. Despite a significant decline in AIDS-related deaths, 630,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2022. The development of an HIV vaccine remains a global health priority to end the pandemic. Although numerous pre-clinical and clinical trials have provided insights into HIV vaccine development, the development of an HIV vaccine remains a significant challenge. The development and accessibility of highly active antiretroviral treatment (ART) represent a significant step, but suboptimal adherence and drug resistance remain major challenges. Millions of people living with HIV still lack access to ART. Although ART is essential in preventing HIV transmission, alone it cannot end the pandemic. Therefore, developing an HIV vaccine is a global health priority and the only way to put an end to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This Special Issue highlights recent scientific and technical advancements made in this field, including correlates of protection, immune pathways, mechanisms for addressing ART unmet needs, and recent advances in novel prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. We invite contributions including original reports, original observations, or reviews to highlight (i) correlates of protection, (ii) immune pathways after primary infection, (iii) mechanisms for addressing ART unmet needs such as persistent viral replication in compartments and reservoirs insensitive to ART, chronic immune activation, and the incomplete restoration of B and T cells, and (iv) recent advances in novel prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

Dr. Portia Chipo Mutevedzi
Dr. Nagesh Kolishetti
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.

• HIV
• antiretroviral treatment (ART)
• vaccines
• drug resistance
• vaccine efficacy