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Vaccines
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Advances in HIV Vaccine Development, 2nd Edition
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Advances in HIV Vaccine Development, 2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 889

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xueling Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Interests: HIV; influenza; Ebola; coronavirus; vaccine; broadly neutralizing antibody and IgA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Upon infection, HIV integrates into the host human genome and cannot be cleared with current treatments. Hence, sterile prevention—a high bar for vaccine development—remains of the utmost importance to halt virus spread and disease. HIV infection is also chronic, leading to the accumulation of enormous viral genetic diversity and multifaceted immune evasion, such as trimer packaging, glycan shield, conformational dynamics, and the immunodominance of non-neutralizing epitopes, to name a few on the HIV envelope glycoprotein. These properties render HIV one of the most difficult viruses for vaccine development. Although neutralizing epitopes have been mapped to almost the entire surface of the HIV envelope, broadly neutralizing antibodies present numerous challenging traits and have not been induced with current vaccines.

In this Special Issue, all studies and reviews that shed new light on both prophylactic and therapeutic HIV vaccines are welcome.

Dr. Xueling Wu
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
  • envelope glycoprotein
  • vaccine
  • adjuvant
  • antibody
  • neutralization
  • ADCC
  • ADCP
  • complement
  • cellular immune response

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

21 pages, 323 KiB  
Review
Progress and Recent Developments in HIV Vaccine Research
by Iris Shim, Lily Rogowski and Vishwanath Venketaraman
Vaccines 2025, 13(7), 690; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines13070690 - 26 Jun 2025
Viewed by 758
Abstract
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global health challenge despite significant advancements in antiretroviral therapy and prevention strategies. Developing a safe and effective vaccine that protects people worldwide has been a major goal, yet the genetic variability and rapid mutation rate of [...] Read more.
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global health challenge despite significant advancements in antiretroviral therapy and prevention strategies. Developing a safe and effective vaccine that protects people worldwide has been a major goal, yet the genetic variability and rapid mutation rate of the virus continue to pose substantial challenges. Methods: In this review paper, we aim to provide a comprehensive review of previous vaccine candidates and the progress made in HIV vaccine clinical trials, spanning from the late 1990s to 2025. PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for English-language Phase 1–3 HIV vaccine trials published from 1990 to March 2025. After de-duplication, titles/abstracts and then full texts were screened; trial phase, regimen, immunogenicity, efficacy, and correlates were extracted into a structured spreadsheet. Owing to platform heterogeneity, findings were synthesized narratively and arranged chronologically to trace the evolution of vaccine strategies. Results: Early vaccine trials demonstrated that a protein subunit vaccine failed to protect against infection, revealing the complexity of HIV evasion strategies and shifting the focus to a comprehensive immune response, including both antibody and T-cell responses. Trials evaluating the role of viral vectors in generating cell-mediated immunity were also insufficient, and suggested that targeting T cell response alone was not enough. In 2009, the RV144 trial made a breakthrough by showing partial protection against HIV infection and providing the first indication of efficacy. This partial success influenced subsequent trials, prompting researchers to further explore the complex immune response required for protection and consider combinations of vaccine technologies to achieve robust, long-lasting immunity. Conclusion: Despite setbacks, decades of rigorous efforts have provided significant contributions to HIV vaccine discovery and development, offering hope for preventing and protecting against HIV infection. The field remains active by continuing to advance our understanding of the virus, refining vaccine strategies, and employing novel technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in HIV Vaccine Development, 2nd Edition)
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