AIDS: is there an answer to the global pandemic? The immune system in HIV infection and control.

HIV/AIDS continues to spread globally and remains a worldwide pandemic affecting about 40 million people. The prevention of infection remains paramount to vaccine studies. Although the best immune correlates for an efficacious HIV vaccine have not yet been discovered, progress has been made toward developing a vaccine. The identification of an effective antibody-binding site, targeted by a functional neutralizing antibody, and findings confirming that the Gag-specific responses are effective in protecting against disease progression are major advances in this field. This review highlights immunology-based developments in vaccine research and viral and host cell properties that could be employed to curb the spread of HIV.