Development of Novel Immunogens for Vaccines to HIV-1

Introduction

The growing number of mortality rate is discovered through the contribution of health illnesses and/or diseases. One of the causes of the health illness is the HIV/Aids that affect both men and women. Experts already given the fact that the reasons in acquiring the disease is through blood transfusion, inheritance, and sexual activities. For the past years, there are victims suffering in the diseases because of the failures in discovering the specific vaccine or treatment.

Background and Problem Statement

The problem in HIV/Aids already infected the population on both developing and developed countries. In the continuous investigation of the appropriate vaccines for medications and treatment, the experts described the relation between HIV replication and immune responses. However, the relationship may seem critical in understanding the pathogenesis of HIV/Aids can push the development of an effective HIV/Aids vaccines. In the prevention of HIV diseases, the expert’s studies discovered that the role of humoral immune response of an individual. In addition, the there are evidences that neutralizing the antibodies can highly contribute to the protection. The antibodies that neutralized the HIV infections target the cells through binding the proteins (Schweighardt, et al., 2007). However, how far does the development on the anti-HIV vaccination can reach its success, and lessen the growth of population who has the HIV/Aids?

Research Aim and Objectives

The aim of this project is to select peptide epitopes that mimic neutralization-sensitive domains of HIV-1 envelope and may function as candidate HIV-1 vaccines. In order to satisfy this aim, there are three objectives that should be considered. First is to determine the similarities and differences of HIV-1 and HIV-2 that can contribute to the development of the novel immunogens. Second is to determine the methods and scientific processes applied in the investigation of the vaccines for HIV-1. Third is to describe the essential elements that can increase the development of the vaccine.

Literature Review

The availability of the vaccines against the infections and diseases are not independently taken as the treatment. The vaccines are for strengthening the human’s immune system and for the benefit of protection against the protection. This means that vaccination is not the real solution to fight deadly diseases. The common misconceptions of humans are relying too much on the medical intervention and temporary solution provided by the medical professionals. The experts advised that an individual should follow the health lifestyle to avoid the diseases. In the case of HIV/Aids, the vaccines can be possibly available in the county’s health departments (Stiegler et. al., 2001). From the various studies, the proposed vaccines are tested to the monkeys that have the same level of DNA as of humans and other essential antibodies. The variety of novel immunogens vaccinated in the selected monkeys show some significant improvement with their ability to control the infection with highly pathogenic Aids viruses. This observation delivers the idea that the rapidity of diseases progression can be deflected through the action of prolonging the disease-free survival. The neutralizing antibodies that protects the animals against the infection of Aids viruses might be awakened or revived through the vaccine strategies and for such resembles in their immune responses. Therefore, the studies concluded that the novel vaccine strategies slow the progression of the disease, if it does not successes the prevention of the infection (Letvin, 2002). It is accepted that the prophylactic vaccine against the HIV-1 requires the development of novel immunogens that are capable in protecting or neutralizing the antibody responses. Now, it is time for the development and continuous approach in a more standardized system for the creation and evaluation for the vaccines. The assessment should also include the transmission and sensitivity of the body against the infection to help improve the vaccine design (Schweighardt, et al., 2007).

Methodology

The suggested method in the study is the use of the secondary information. This is an advantage for the study to discover the researches done to fight the diseases and pursue the development of the vaccines. The materials that can used in the study are the medical journals, books, medical and investigative reports, case studies and others that are focus in the investigation of the HIV/Aids vaccines. The investigation from different settings is a good design in obtaining the information regarding the recent indication of HIV diseases and the observation of its reaction towards the current vaccination and antibodies. This will give the study the necessary idea in organizing the information regarding the continuous development of the novel immunognes for the HIV-1.

References:

Letvin, N.L., (2002) Perspective: Strategies for an HIV Vaccine, The Journal of Clinical Investigation 110(1)

Schweighardt, B., Liu, Y., Huang, W., Chappey, C., Lie, Y., Petropoulos, C., & Wrin, T., (2007) Development of an HIV-1 Reference Panel of Subtype B Envelope Clones Isolated From the Plasma of Recently Infected Individuals, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 46(1): 1-11

Stiegler, G., Kunert, R., Purtscher, M., Wolbank, S., Voglauer, R., Steindl, F., & Katinger, H., (2001) A Potent Cross-Clade Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibody against a Novel Epitope on gp41 of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1, AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 17(18)