Progress on new vaccine strategies against chronic viral infections
J. Clin. Invest. Jay A. Berzofsky, et al. 114:450 doi:10.1172/JCI22674 [Go to this article.]

Figure 2
Interactions of HIV envelope glycoproteins, CD4, and chemokine receptors CCR5 or CXCR4 trigger fusion and entry of HIV. These interactions determine critical regions of the HIV envelope glycoprotein against which neutralizing antibodies could be raised. After the envelope protein interacts with CD4 on the target cell (A and B), it undergoes a conformational change allowing its interaction with a chemokine receptor (C). This second interaction induces a further conformational change in the gp41 portion of the envelope glycoprotein that mediates the fusion event (D and E). Blockade of any of these three steps can prevent viral entry.