Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Abstract

The Role of CD4⁺ T cells in the Development of an Efficacious HIV Vaccine

Haitao Liu, Wei Shen, Jiayi Shu and Xia Jin

HIV infection has caused serious public health disaster during the past three decades. The rapid discovery of antiretroviral drugs and the implementation of combination antiretroviral therapy in many countries over the past two decades have led to a marked decrease in HIV-associated mortality and morbidity. However, the antiretroviral therapy alone has been unable to eradicate the virus from HIV-infected individuals. To reduce the incidence of HIV infection on a global scale, vaccine is still the most cost-effective method. Due in part to the lack of a comprehensive understanding of immune correlates of protection, an effective HIV vaccine has not yet been developed. Since CD4⁺ T cells play a central role in orchestrating various arms of immune responses, vaccines that mobilize CD4⁺ T cells should help to elicit desired immune responses for the prevention of HIV infection. The current knowledge on subsets of CD4⁺ T cells and their perceived roles in mediation and formation of post-vaccination protective immunity are discussed.