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Toward an AIDS vaccine: lessons from natural simian immunodeficiency virus infections of African nonhuman primate hosts

Nature Medicine volume 15, pages 861–865 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The design of an effective AIDS vaccine has eluded the efforts of the scientific community to the point that alternative approaches to classic vaccine formulations have to be considered. We propose here that HIV vaccine research could greatly benefit from the study of natural simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections of African nonhuman primates. Natural SIV hosts (for example, sooty mangabeys, African green monkeys and mandrills) share many features of HIV infection of humans; however, they usually do not develop immunodeficiency. These natural, nonprogressive SIV infections represent an evolutionary adaptation that allows a peaceful coexistence of primate lentiviruses and the host immune system. This adaptation does not result in reduced viral replication but, rather, involves phenotypic changes to CD4+ T cell subsets, limited immune activation and preserved mucosal immunity, all of which contribute to the avoidance of disease progression and, possibly, to the reduction of vertical SIV transmission. Here we summarize the current understanding of SIV infection of African nonhuman primates and discuss how unraveling these evolutionary adaptations may provide clues for new vaccine designs that might induce effective immune responses without the harmful consequences of excessive immune activation.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank A. Bernstein and N. Miller for their helpful discussions.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Donald L Sodora, Jonathan S Allan, Cristian Apetrei, Jason M Brenchley, Daniel C Douek, James G Else, Jacob D Estes, Beatrice H Hahn, Vanessa M Hirsch, Amitinder Kaur, Frank Kirchhoff, Michaela Muller-Trutwin, Ivona Pandrea, Jörn E Schmitz and Guido Silvestri: All authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Donald L Sodora

  2. Southwest National Primate Research Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Jonathan S Allan

  3. Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University, Covington, Louisiana, USA

    Cristian Apetrei & Ivona Pandrea

  4. Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Cristian Apetrei & Ivona Pandrea

  5. Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Jason M Brenchley & Vanessa M Hirsch

  6. Vaccine Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Daniel C Douek

  7. Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    James G Else & Guido Silvestri

  8. US National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, USA

    Jacob D Estes

  9. Departments of Microbiology and Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

    Beatrice H Hahn

  10. New England Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, Massachusetts, USA

    Amitinder Kaur

  11. Institute of Molecular Virology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Frank Kirchhoff

  12. Institut Pasteur, Unite de Regulation des Infections Retrovirales, Paris, France

    Michaela Muller-Trutwin

  13. Division of Viral Pathogenesis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Jörn E Schmitz

  14. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Guido Silvestri

Authors
  1. Donald L Sodora
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  2. Jonathan S Allan
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  3. Cristian Apetrei
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  8. Beatrice H Hahn
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  9. Vanessa M Hirsch
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  10. Amitinder Kaur
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  13. Ivona Pandrea
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  14. Jörn E Schmitz
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  15. Guido Silvestri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guido Silvestri.

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Sodora, D., Allan, J., Apetrei, C. et al. Toward an AIDS vaccine: lessons from natural simian immunodeficiency virus infections of African nonhuman primate hosts. Nat Med 15, 861–865 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2013

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