15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Boston, Massachusetts - February 3-6, 2008

Conf Retrovir Opportunistic Infect 2008 Feb 3-6;15: (abstract no. 6)

Douglas Richman
VA San Diego Hlthcare System and Univ of California, US

BACKGROUND: Identifying the rapid development of drug resistance substantiated the capacity of HIV to rapidly evolve and escape from selective pressures. This accelerated validation of Charles Darwin results from an error-prone reverse transcriptase, the lack of a proof-reading mechanism, and massive rates of persistent viral replication. Other selective pressures that drive evolution and escape include anatomic compartmentalization, cell-mediated immunity, and neutralizing antibody.

CONCLUSIONS: The consequence of this capacity to escape cell-mediated immunity and neutralizing antibody is a remarkable genetic and antigenic diversity that has proven an insurmountable barrier to vaccine development. Only fundamental new insights into contending with this diversity will permit the development of an effective vaccine.

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2008-02-03
6

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