Overview: practical insights from comparative immunology and pathogenesis of AIDS, hepatitis B, and measles for developing an HIV vaccine.

Combined effects of viral mutation, beneficial and adverse host immune responses, and alterations in immune function strongly fashion the pathogenesis and outcome of HIV infection. Understanding HIV can be aided by understanding hepatitis B and measles. Clinical remission and exacerbation in persistent hepatitis B virus infection is determined by the triad of viral mutation, induction of anergy, and host immune responses. Measles virus infects many of the same kinds of cells as HIV and causes an immunodeficiency as well that usually is spontaneously reversible. Lessons learned from comparative studies can assist in plotting approaches and strategies for immunoprophylactic and therapeutic interventions in HIV infections and AIDS.