A Phase I Evaluation of the Safety and Immunogenicity of Vaccination with Recombinant gp160 in Patients with Early Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

INFECTION with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) causes chronic progressive immunologic dysfunction. 1 , 2 Although the precise mechanisms of HIV-induced immune defects remain to be elucidated, the development of immunologic dysfunction as a result of HIV infection is well documented. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Longitudinal studies of HIV-infected cohorts have demonstrated a predictable rate of decline in the CD4 cell count and a relation between the CD4 cell count and survival. 3 , 4 , 9 10 11 12 Accordingly, HIV infection can be clinically classified into distinct prognostic stages on the basis of increasing degrees of immunologic dysfunction. 13 Immune responses to HIV antigens are elicited during natural infection, and these may be . . .