Situación actual en el desarrollo de una vacuna preventiva frente al VIH

Due to the uncontrolled progression of the aids epidemic the development of an HIV vaccine has become a major objective of scientific research. An effective preventive vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is not available and sterilising immunity has not yet been achieved in animal models. In this review major challenges in developing an aids vaccine, in particular the mechanisms involved in viral escape to the immune response are analysed, and results obtained with the different prototypes of therapeutic and preventive vaccines summarized. Finally, social, economic and health aspects related to research on HIV vaccines and present controversies regarding the development of clinical trials are discussed.