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About the Authors:
Eric S. Rosenberg
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Barney S. Graham
Affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Ellen S. Chan
Affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Ronald J. Bosch
Affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Vicki Stocker
Affiliation: Social and Scientific Systems, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America
Janine Maenza
Affiliation: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Martin Markowitz
Affiliation: Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Rockefeller University, New York, New York, United States of America
Susan Little
Affiliation: University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America
Paul E. Sax
Affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Ann C. Collier
Affiliation: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Gary Nabel
Affiliation: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Suzanne Saindon
Affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Theresa Flynn
Affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Daniel Kuritzkes
Affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Dan H. Barouch
Affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
for the ACTG A5187 Team
Introduction
Despite the striking decline in morbidity and mortality in persons receiving antiretroviral therapy [1], the short- and long-term toxicities, increasing drug resistance, challenges with adherence, and cost make the prospect of long-term therapy difficult for many HIV-1 infected individuals. More importantly, the majority of HIV-1 infected individuals live in developing countries with limited access to antiretroviral therapy. An effective therapeutic vaccine that could induce or augment HIV-1-specific immune responses may potentially delay or reduce the need for antiretroviral therapy.
One approach to inducing HIV-1-specific immunity is through the delivery of multiple viral antigens by DNA plasmids. The DNA vaccine VRC-HIVDNA009-00-VP is a 4 plasmid mixture encoding a subtype B Gag-Pol-Nef fusion protein...