Mucosal HIV transmission and vaccination strategies through oral compared with vaginal and rectal routes

Importance of the field: There are currently over thirty million people infected with HIV and there are no vaccines available to prevent HIV infections or disease. The genitourinary, rectal and oral mucosa are the mucosal HIV transmission routes. An effective vaccine that can induce both systemic and local mucosal immunity is generally accepted as a major means of protection against mucosal HIV transmission and AIDS. What the reader will gain: Structure and cells that comprise the oral, vaginal and rectal mucosa pertaining to HIV transmission and vaccination strategies through each mucosal route to prevent mucosal and systemic infection will be discussed. Areas covered in this review: Covering publications from 1980s through 2010, mucosal transmission of HIV and current and previous approaches to vaccinations are discussed. Take home message: Although oral transmission of HIV is far less common than vaginal and rectal transmissions, infections through this route do occur through oral sex as well as vertically from mother to child. Mucosal vaccination strategies against oral and other mucosal HIV transmissions are under intensive research but the lack of consensus on immune correlates of protection and lack of safe and effective mucosal adjuvants and delivery systems hamper progress towards a licensed vaccine.