Advances in dendritic cell-based vaccines for HIV

HIV remains one of the most important deadly infections today, due to the lack of a preventive vaccine and limited access to medical care in developing countries. In developed countries antiretroviral therapy is available but the regime is unable to eliminate the virus, implying that life-long therapy is necessary. Dendritic cells (DCs) are important mediators of cellular and humoral immune responses and hence offer a promising therapeutic vaccination strategy to attenuate disease progression. The current knowledge in DC subsets and their functional plasticity are prominent determinants in harnessing the full immunostimulatory potential of dendritic cells. Type of antigen, immunogen delivery method, optimal interaction of antigenic peptide and T cells, and avoidance of tolerogenic responses are some of the elements that need to be considered to develop an efficient immunotherapy. Novel strategies that modulate DC functions that eventually trigger a robust cellular response against a broad T cell repetoire are needed. This review focuses on current DC-based vaccine strategies for optimal induction of immune responses.