New approaches to HIV vaccine development

•New progress has been made in understanding effective protective mechanisms of anti-HIV CD8 cytolytic T lymphocytes.•New progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of induction of broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies.•New progress has been made in elucidation of the structure of the HIV envelope trimer.•New strategies have been developed for induction of protective T and B cell responses to HIV infection.

Development of a safe and effective vaccine for HIV is a major global priority. However, to date, efforts to design an HIV vaccine with methods used for development of other successful viral vaccines have not succeeded due to HIV diversity, HIV integration into the host genome, and ability of HIV to consistently evade anti-viral immune responses. Recent success in isolation of potent broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), in discovery of mechanisms of bnAb induction, and in discovery of atypical mechanisms of CD8T cell killing of HIV-infected cells, have opened new avenues for strategies for HIV vaccine design.