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Advanced Research on HIV Virus and Infection

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2024 | Viewed by 391

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Interests: CMV; NK cells; HCV; HIV; non tuberculous mycobacteria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to our Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS), titled “Advanced Research on HIV Virus and Infection” supervised by Dr. Patricia Price and assisted by our Topical Advisory Panel member, Dr. Shelley Waters.

While the replication of HIV, the depletion of CD4 T-cells, and the persistent activation of a patient’s immune system have been studied extensively, HIV disease remains incurable, and its management is critical to the well-being of many people worldwide. A factor that is often overlooked is that the rapid administration of antiretroviral therapies can now stop disease progression at an early stage. This creates a novel condition where CD4 T-cells remain, but the chronic immune activation is not averted. It is unclear how this affects the profile of co-infections, but it is likely that the characteristics of advanced HIV disease still have tremendous influence on antiretroviral therapies. The role of herpesviruses (notably, CMV) in the modification of the immune system is now emerging, and more research is warranted. The molecular aspects of co-infections prevalent in the developing world (e.g., tuberculosis) in this context remain unclear.

This Special Issue will address the state of the immune system in patients with specific outcomes achieved from HIV disease and antiretroviral therapies, as well as the immunological consequences of particular co-infections. We are sure that this collection will be a useful guide for scientists and clinicians. Data on molecular mechanisms or pathophysiology are essential, and papers that only contain clinical trials/data are not acceptable.

Dr. Patricia Price
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • HIV
  • viral proteins
  • immunogenetics
  • pathogenesis

Published Papers (1 paper)

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13 pages, 965 KiB  
Article
Anti-HIV Humoral Response Induced by Different Anti-Idiotype Antibody Formats: An In Silico and In Vivo Approach
by Valeria Caputo, Ilaria Negri, Louiza Moudoud, Martina Libera, Luigi Bonizzi, Massimo Clementi and Roberta Antonia Diotti
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(11), 5737; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115737 - 24 May 2024
Viewed by 218
Abstract
Despite advancements in vaccinology, there is currently no effective anti-HIV vaccine. One strategy under investigation is based on the identification of epitopes recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies to include in vaccine preparation. Taking into account the benefits of anti-idiotype molecules and the diverse [...] Read more.
Despite advancements in vaccinology, there is currently no effective anti-HIV vaccine. One strategy under investigation is based on the identification of epitopes recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies to include in vaccine preparation. Taking into account the benefits of anti-idiotype molecules and the diverse biological attributes of different antibody formats, our aim was to identify the most immunogenic antibody format. This format could serve as a foundational element for the development of an oligo-polyclonal anti-idiotype vaccine against HIV-1. For our investigation, we anchored our study on an established b12 anti-idiotype, referred to as P1, and proposed four distinct formats: two single chains and two minibodies, both in two different orientations. For a deeper characterization of these molecules, we used immunoinformatic tools and tested them on rabbits. Our studies have revealed that a particular minibody conformation, MbVHVL, emerges as the most promising candidate. It demonstrates a significant binding affinity with b12 and elicits a humoral anti-HIV-1 response in rabbits similar to the Fab format. This study marks the first instance where the minibody format has been shown to provoke a humoral response against a pathogen. Furthermore, this format presents biological advantages over the Fab format, including bivalency and being encoded by a monocistronic gene, making it better suited for the development of RNA-based vaccines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research on HIV Virus and Infection)
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