A Shot at Dendritic Cell-Based Vaccine Strategy against HIV-1

Introduction: Despite considerable efforts to control AIDS pandemic, it is still one of the significant infectious concerns worldwide. The advance in medical research has led to the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy with a considerable effect to suppress the disease. However, an effective vaccine capable of eradication the HIV pandemic is not available yet. Failure to develop a prophylactic vaccine diverted the efforts to clinical trials of therapeutic vaccines. Methods: Here, we review different approaches to dendritic cell-based HIV therapeutic vaccines. We have summarized the dendritic cell-based trials as HIV therapeutic vaccination, registered in the United States clinical trial database. Results and Conclusion: The strategies applied in the clinical trials were mostly of low success rates; however, by using dendritic cell therapy, they could trigger the host immune response against HIV-1 infections.