Background
A vaccine capable of stimulating protective anti-viral antibody responses is needed to curtail the global Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic caused by HIV-1. Although rarely elicited during the course of natural infection or upon conventional vaccination, the membrane proximal ectodomain region (MPER) of the HIV-1 gp41 envelope protein subunit is the target of three such human broadly neutralizing antibodies (BNAbs): 4E10, 2F5 and Z13e1. How these BNAbs bind to their lipid-embedded epitopes and mediate anti-viral activity are unclear, but such information might offer important insight into a world-wide health imperative.