| abstract |
The present invention provides a method of treating a patient with at least a first antigen comprising a broadly neutralizing epitope of the membrane proximal ectodomain region (MPER) of gp41, and expressed by Formula NLC. A connecting loop (L) comprising four adjacent segments, an N-helix region (N) of gp41, a C-helix region (C) of gp41 and a synthetic linker located between the N-helix region and the C-helix region The linker replaces amino acids 593-617 of gp41 according to a numbering scheme based on a prototype HIV-1 HxB2 Clade B isolate strain and neutralizes calveolin-1. A second antigen, comprising a variant polypeptide, comprising a D epitope but not a 2F5 and 4E10 epitope, a fusion peptide, and which has minimal immune cross reactivity to human interleukin 2 (IL-2), is administered to the same patient. Comprising the step of administering, to a therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of HIV and, in particular prophylactic methods of the vaccine. |