Advance in identification and analysis of epitope specificities of broadly neutralizing anti-HIV-1 sera

One obstacle to the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine has been the difficulty in inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies with protective functions.However,recent studies show that antibodies in the sera of some HIV-1 infected individuals can neutralize diverse HIV-1 isolates.Detailed analyses of these sera with recently developed sophistical mapping methods can provide new insights into the viral epitopes targeted by broadly reactive NAbs.The new information emerging from these mapping efforts may be conducive to sharpening efforts to isolate new bnmAbs and moreover,may provide crucial information for the rational design of novel vaccine candidates.