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1. Virus Research 89 (2002) 157
Book review
www.elsevier.com/locate/virusres
Aids Vaccine Research
Edited by F. Wong-Staal, R.C. Gallo, Marcel
Dekker, New York, 2002. ISBN 0-8247-0645-5,
$165.00
The opening sentence of this book says it all:
‘there is perhaps no greater need in medical science
at the inception of the 21st century than the
development of a preventive vaccine against HIV’.
The most effective human intervention against
infectious diseases has always been vaccination and
there is still considerable hope that eventually, a
successful HIV vaccine will be developed.
The fact that no HIV vaccine is yet at hand is
not for lack of effort. Over the last 20 years, more
knowledge has been gathered on HIV than on any
other virus and this includes a partial understanding
of immune correlates of protection in humans and
non human primates. The reasons why this enor-
mous amount of information has not yet led to a
vaccine becomes clear as one reads through the
chapters of this book.
A vaccine normally mimics the natural immune
response, which occurs when an individual is in-
fected with a virus, and which leads to protection
against a second infection by the same pathogen.
In the case of HIV, however, infection induces a
variety of immune responses, including neutralising
antibodies, helper T cells and cytotoxic T
lymphocytes, but this does not prevent the progres-
sion of disease to AIDS and ultimately death. A
successful HIV vaccine, therefore, would have to
improve on the actual immune response that occurs
upon natural infection.
Some of the obstacles to the development of an
HIV vaccine are well-known. HIV is genetically
extremely variable, it usually destroys the immune
system and there is no readily available animal
model for early-stage vaccine development and
testing. Several chapters in this book discuss these
obstacles in considerable detail. The immunopatho-
genesis of HIV infection is described in a compre-
hensive chapter by O.J. Cohen and A.S. Fauci
(NIH) which includes no less than 558 references.
The genetic diversity of HIV and the implication of
viral variation for vaccine development are dis-
cussed by V.V. Lukashov, J. Goudsmit and W.A.
Paxton (Amsterdam) while the importance of the
cellular immune response to HIV is clearly brought
to the fore in two chapters by T. Hanke and A.
McMichael, (Oxford) and by G. Carcelain, L.
Mollet and B. Autran (Paris).
The different approaches that have been used in
HIV vaccine research are explained by some of the
leading players in the field. Epitope enhancement
is described by J. Berzofsky, J. Ahlers and I.
Belyakov (NIH) while the potential of DNA vac-
cines is presented by H. Robinson (Atlanta). Ap-
proaches using attenuated virus and live attenuated
Salmonella typhi as a vaccine delivery system are
described in two chapters by J. Kan-Mitchell and
F. Wong-Staal (San Diego) and by G.K. Lewis, M.
Tarek Shata and D.M. Hone (Baltimore).
The possible contribution of innate immunity in
HIV infection is discussed by T. Lehner (London)
and the crucial role played by non human primate
models in the testing of HIV vaccines is described
by C.D. Pauza and M. Wallace (Baltimore).
The editors have brought together under one
cover contributions from many leading experts
involved in HIV vaccine research. This book is a
timely reminder of where we stand at present in one
of the most challenging enterprises that ever con-
fronted vaccinologists. It should be read by all
virologists who want a first hand account of the epic
battle being fought against the worst villain in
virological clothes that ever besieged humanity.
M.H.V. van Regenmortel
Biotechnology School,
CNRS, Uni6ersity of Strasbourg,
67400 Illkirch, France
0168-1702/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S0168-1702(02)00074-6