Prospects for passive immunity to prevent HIV infection

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The need for better HIV prevention toolsDespite the widespread global rollout of antiretroviral therapy and its ability to reduce onward HIV transmission, an alarming 1.8 million new HIV infections are estimated to have occurred in 2016 [1].Effective methods to prevent HIV infection include condom use and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with antiretroviral drugs; however, owing to barriers such as adherence, an effective vaccine would be the most definitive solution to the ongoing burden of HIV infection.Yet researchers have struggled to design a prophylactic vaccine able to induce protective immunity.This highlights the urgency of developing new tools to prevent HIV infections and achieve control of the global epidemic [2].One such approach is passive immunization with protective antibodies, a strategy that has been used against infectious diseases for over 100 years and has proven useful for post-exposure prophylaxis or against pathogens where no vaccines yet exist [3].The flourishing field of antibody therapeutics, together with the identification of a growing number of broad and potent HIV monoclonal antibodies, presents an extraordinary opportunity to use this approach for HIV prevention.The protective and therapeutic effects of a number of these broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) have been well demonstrated in animal studies [4].Furthermore, bNAbs have been shown to have modest antiviral effects in HIV-infected humans, both in reducing viremia and delaying viral rebound after interruption of antiretroviral treatment [5][6][7].What is not yet known is whether bNAbs are able to protect uninfected humans from acquiring HIV.

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