Rational design of HIV vaccines and microbicides: report of the EUROPRISE annual conference 2011

Abstract

Europrise is a Network of Excellence supported by the European Commission within the 6th Framework programme from 2007 to 2012. The Network has involved over 50 institutions from 13 European countries together with 3 industrial partners and 6 African countries. The Network encompasses an integrated program of research, training, dissemination and advocacy within the field of HIV vaccines and microbicides. A central and timely theme of the Network is the development of the unique concept of co-usage of vaccines and microbicides. Training of PhD students has been a major task, and some of these post-graduate students have here summarized novel ideas emanating from presentations at the last annual Europrise meeting in Prague. The latest data and ideas concerning HIV vaccine and microbicide studies are included in this review; these studies are so recent that the majority have yet to be published. Data were presented and discussed concerning novel immunisation strategies; microbicides and PrEP (alone and in combination with vaccines); mucosal transmission of HIV/SIV; mucosal vaccination; novel adjuvants; neutralizing antibodies; innate immune responses; HIV/SIV pathogenesis and disease progression; new methods and reagents. These – necessarily overlapping topics - are comprehensively summarised by the Europrise students in the context of other recent exciting data.

Which Antibody Functions are Important for an HIV Vaccine?

“…), it might be possible to limit viral replication earlier and in many target cells. New immunogens are currently being formulated in order to redirect the humoral response to mucosal sites ( 192 ). A phase 1 clinical trial has recently started (European collaborative project EuroNeut41) in order to test this new concept ( 193 ).…”

Human/Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission and Infection at Mucosal Sites

“…More recently, use of a live cytomegalovirus viral vector vaccine induced effector memory T cells in the mucosa and reduced the risk of infection of macaques after repeated low-dose intrarectal challenge or provided nearly complete protection against viremia (Hansen et al, 2009(Hansen et al, , 2011. Thus, it may indeed be possible to achieve a high enough effector-to-target ratio early on in infection by using an optimized mucosal vaccine, to prevent infection that would escape any protection afforded either by mucosal antibodies elicited by the vaccine or by microbicides (Baker, 2013;Warren and Bass, 2013;Ruffin et al, 2012;Vasan and Michael, 2012) alone or by their combination. Indeed, the combination of a vaccine with microbicide use is potentially a winning formula to reduce transmission and nip any nascent infection in the bud.…”

Les anticorps anti-VIH

“…afin de limiter la réplication virale dans les nombreuses cellules cibles présentes. C'est pourquoi de nouveaux immunogènes sont actuellement formulés afin d'induire une réponse humorale directement au niveau de ces muqueuses [35]. Un essai clinique de phase I a récemment débuté (projet collaboratif européen EuroNeut41) dans le but de tester ces nouveaux concepts [36].…”