During the past two decades, several epitopes that induce neutralizing antibodies (Abs) have been identified in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope through studies of polyclonal and monoclonal Abs (MAbs). These epitopes include the V3 region defined with polyclonal Abs (30, 33) and several MAbs, such as 447-52D (16); the membrane-proximal external region in gp41 defined by MAbs 2F5 and 4E10 (6); the CD4-binding site on gp120 defined by MAb immunoglobulin G1b12 (IgG1b12) (7); and a glycan-rich region on gp120 defined by MAb 2G12 (37). With the exception of V3, none of these epitopes induce neutralizing Abs in the majority of infected humans. Thus, Abs to the membrane-proximal external region of gp41 (G. Shaw, H. Li, J. Decker, S. Allen, E. Hunter, E. Delaporte, M. Peters, B. Hahn, and F. Bibollet-Ruche, Abstr. AIDS Vaccine 2005, abstr. 29, 2005 (45), the CD4 binding site defined by IgG1b12 (25), and the designated carbohydrate moieties on gp120 (23, 37) are rare or absent from the sera of most HIV-infected individuals, and the epitope recognized by 2F5 (9,11,29) and the peptide mimotope for IgG1b12 (44) have failed to induce neutralizing Abs when used as experimental immunogens. Moreover, the recently described auto-reactive character of MAbs 2F5, 4E10, and IgG1b12, which recognize cardiolipin and/or double-stranded DNA, indicates that these epitopes may be problematic for the design of an anti-HIV vaccine (22). In contrast, the immunogenicity of the V3 region is reflected by the presence of anti-V3 Abs in the sera of essentially all HIV-infected individuals (38).Opinions about the V3 loop as an antigen for the induction of neutralizing Abs have changed over time. Early optimism related to the ability of anti-V3 MAbs to neutralize T-cell-lineadapted viruses was replaced by skepticism when it was suggested that the V3 of primary isolate JR-FL was "cryptic" (5). More recent data suggest that V3 is accessible on the surfaces of most virions (31) and that anti-V3 MAbs, such as 447-52D, can neutralize 62 to 92% of primary isolates that carry the epitope for which V3 is specific (3, 43). Nonetheless, recent studies have shown that V3 is masked in many viruses by the V1/V2 region (32) and/or by carbohydrate moieties on the envelope (39), both of which may contribute to the resistance of primary isolates (26,28). Moreover, it has been demonstrated in several studies that, despite the sequence variation in the V3 loop, many human anti-V3 Abs are cross-reactive (3,