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Vaccines
Special Issues
The Development of HIV Vaccines: Advances and Challenges
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The Development of HIV Vaccines: Advances and Challenges

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "HIV Vaccines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 722

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Michael Bukrinsky

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Tropical Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA
Interests: HIV accessory genes; HIV-related lipid dysregulation; HIV-related mechanisms of inflammation; HIV-infected cells; anti-HIV compounds; HIV-1 translocation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to showcase research and emerging challenges in developing HIV vaccines. We invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore novel immunogens, innovative adjuvants, and advancements in vaccine delivery platforms. Submissions that focus on immune correlates of protection, strategies to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies, and lessons learned from past vaccine trials are highly encouraged. We are particularly interested in studies that address advanced immunological concepts, including trained immunity, epigenetic reprogramming of innate responses, and the role of heterologous immunity in vaccine efficacy. Manuscripts discussing novel vaccine strategies, such as mRNA platforms, are encouraged, as are contributions that examine immune-metabolic regulation in vaccine-induced responses.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Michael Bukrinsky
Guest Editor

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.

Keywords

  • HIV vaccine
  • trained immunity
  • broadly neutralizing antibodies
  • T-cell immunity
  • epigenetic reprogramming
  • immune metabolism
  • systems immunology
  • adjuvants
  • mucosal immunity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

37 pages, 477 KiB  
Review
Recombinant Mycobacterium bovis BCG-Based HIV Vaccine: Failures and Promising Approaches for a Successful Vaccine Strategy
by Joan Joseph-Munné, Milena Maya-Hoyos, Narcís Saubi, Santiago Perez, Miguel Angel Martinez Lopez, Eder Baron and Carlos Yesid Soto
Vaccines 2025, 13(6), 606; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines13060606 - 3 Jun 2025
Viewed by 561
Abstract
During 2022, AIDS claimed a life every minute and about 9.2 million HIV-infected people were not on treatment. In addition, a person living with HIV is estimated to be 20–30 times more susceptible to developing active tuberculosis. Every year, 130,000 infants are newly [...] Read more.
During 2022, AIDS claimed a life every minute and about 9.2 million HIV-infected people were not on treatment. In addition, a person living with HIV is estimated to be 20–30 times more susceptible to developing active tuberculosis. Every year, 130,000 infants are newly infected, with vertical transmission being the main cause of pediatric HIV infection. Thus, the development of an effective, safe, and accessible vaccine for neonates and/or adults is an urgent need to prevent or control HIV infection or progression to AIDS. An effective HIV vaccine should induce long-lasting mucosal immunity, broadly neutralizing antibodies, innate immunity, and robust stimulation of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. Recombinant BCG is a promising live-attenuated bacterial vaccine vector because of its capacity to stimulate T-cell immunity. As a slow-growing microorganism, it provides prolonged low-level antigenic exposure upon infecting macrophages and APCs, potentially stimulating both effector and memory T-cell responses. BCG is considered safe and is currently administered to 80% of infants in countries where it is part of the national immunization program. Additionally, BCG offers several benefits as a live vaccine vehicle since it is cost-effective, easy to mass-produce, and heat stable. It is also well-suited for newborns, as maternal antibodies do not interfere with its efficacy. Furthermore, BCG has a strong safety profile, having been administered to over three billion people as a TB vaccine. In this review, we provide an extensive summary of the literature relating to immunogenicity studies in animal models performed since 2011. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the key factors influencing the design of recombinant BCG as a live vaccine vehicle: (i) expression vectors; (ii) selection of HIV immunogen; (iii) promoters to regulate gene expression; (iv) BCG strain and BCG codon optimization; (v) genetic plasmid stability; (vi) influence of preexisting immunity, route, and dose immunization; and (vii) safety profile. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Development of HIV Vaccines: Advances and Challenges)
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