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Most successful vaccines against viral diseases elicit neutralizing antibodies. However, viruses that constantly change their target antigens (such as HIV, hepatitis C virus, and influenza viruses) present a real challenge.
During the past 2 years, several broadly neutralizing antibodies against strains of HIV-1 have been identified. Research teams now report isolating exponentially more potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies from a few patients who are HIV positive. Many of the antibodies target a region of the virus's envelope protein that initially attaches to the CD4 cell receptor. The identification of such broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1 is similar to the recent breakthrough in identifying broadly neutralizing antibodies…