113 Nonhuman Primate HIV Vaccine Studies: Will They Be Predictive? Norman L Letvin Beth Israel Deaconess Med Ctr and Harvard Med Sch, Boston, MA, USA

Various nonhuman primate models are used to evaluate HIV vaccine strategies.  However, there are limited data available to determine the extent to which any of these models might predict the immunogenicity of candidate vaccines in humans or the clinical protection in humans that might be conferred by immunization.  Examples will be reviewed of the immunogenicity of candidate HIV vaccines that have been evaluated both in rhesus monkeys and in humans.  Studies will also be shown in which the same vaccine strategy is assessed using both pathogenic SHIV and SIV challenges.  These data suggest that the immunogenicity of particular candidate vaccines is comparable in monkeys and humans, and that the consequences of lentivirus infection in vaccinated monkeys are consistent using different challenge viruses.