The challenges posed by the biology of the virus remain a barrier to obtaining a complete cure using current antivirals and to developing a working vaccine that will protect from infection and clear disease. Researchers are keenly working to uncover how to elicit long-term broadly neutralizing antibody responses in humans that will protect against infection from all HIV clades and to ensure that people already infected will also have a chance at clearing the virus and being cured. In “Bedside to Bench,” Florian Klein and Henning Gruell discuss a recent study that tracked how broadly neutralizing antibodies developed in an HIV-infected individual during the natural course of the disease. The findings will help create a roadmap to identify the necessary steps to induce antibody maturation for achieving a broad and potent protective humoral response. Another important aspect that defies HIV eradication in infected individuals is the existence of viral reservoirs that allow the virus to hide from antiviral killing. In “Bench to Bedside,” Robert Siliciano peruses recent advances in animal models providing evidence that eliciting effector memory cellular responses to HIV may help eradicate—or prevent the establishment of—latent reservoirs. This strategy could contribute to clearing HIV in treated infected individuals and add to the protection of a humoral vaccine response.
- Henning Gruell
- Florian Klein
