Peer-review started: May 24, 2020
First decision: June 15, 2020
Revised: June 29, 2020
Accepted: August 15, 2020
Article in press: August 15, 2020
Published online: September 25, 2020
Processing time: 123 Days and 11.8 Hours
High genetic variability of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a major intractable challenge to the practical design of vaccines. But a recent pioneer study published in PNAS Xenobots, is likely to revolutionize HIV prevention as it presented the world's first living robot made of cells. In the advent of this discovery, we herein discuss the possibility of using living biological cell robots to target HIV-infected T lymphocytes, and the prospects of this approach being a new HIV vaccine. We capture the current research status and trend of advances in biological cell robots' design as a new HIV vaccine. The key differences between this novel vaccine and other HIV vaccines are highlighted.
Core Tip: In February 2020, the birth of the world's first live-cell robot has brought hope for the artificial design of human live cells. Therefore, herein we propose a hypothesis: Can we artificially design a cell as an alternative target cell for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and use it as a new acquired immune deficiency syndrome vaccine to prevent HIV infection.