A critical question for HIV vaccine development: which antibodies to induce?

A vaccine against HIV-1 must prevent infection against genetically diverse virus strains. Two approaches are currently being pursued to elicit antibody-mediated protection: vaccines that induce potent and broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) or vaccines that induce "conventional antibodies," which are less potent and broadly neutralizing in comparison. Although bnAbs may provide the greatest level of protection, their structural and genetic characteristics make their elicitation through vaccination a major challenge. In contrast, conventional HIV-1 antibodies have been induced by vaccination and correlated with reduced HIV-1 infection in a phase III vaccine trial. Here, I present evidence that both approaches should be pursued with equal vigor.