About the Authors

Paolo Monini

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Aurelio Cafaro

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Indresh K. Srivastava

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Sonia Moretti

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Victoria A. Sharma

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Claudia Andreini

Affiliation CERM, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Chiara Chiozzini

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Flavia Ferrantelli

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Maria R. Pavone. Cossut

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Antonella Tripiciano

Affiliations National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy, San Gallicano Hospital, Rome, Italy

Filomena Nappi

Current address: Department of National Center for Immunobiologicals Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Olimpia Longo

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Stefania Bellino

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Orietta Picconi

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Emanuele Fanales-Belasio

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Alessandra Borsetti

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Elena Toschi

Current address: Department of Hematology, Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Ilaria Schiavoni

Current address: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Ilaria Bacigalupo

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Elaine Kan

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Leonardo Sernicola

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Maria T. Maggiorella

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Katy Montin

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Marco Porcu

Affiliation CERM, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Patrizia Leone

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Pasqualina Leone

Current address: Department of Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Barbara Collacchi

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Clelia Palladino

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Barbara Ridolfi

Current address: Department of Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Mario Falchi

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Iole Macchia

Current address: Department of Hematology, Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Jeffrey B. Ulmer

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Stefano Buttò

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Cecilia Sgadari

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Mauro Magnani

Affiliation Department of Biomolecular Science, University of Urbino, Urbino, Italy

Maurizio P. M. Federico

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Fausto Titti

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Lucia Banci

Affiliation CERM, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Franco Dallocchio

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Rino Rappuoli

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Siena, Italy

Fabrizio Ensoli

Affiliation San Gallicano Hospital, Rome, Italy

Susan W. Barnett

Affiliation Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Enrico Garaci

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Barbara Ensoli

barbara.ensoli@iss.it

Affiliation National AIDS Center, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

IKS, VAS, EK, JBU, RR and SWB are employees of Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc. Novartis provided the recombinant HIV-1 Env proteins as a partner in several collaborative studies (the European projects AVIP and MUVAPRED, the “Joint Program ISS/Novartis (Chiron) for the development of a combined vaccine against HIV/AIDS.” There is one patent to declare: Novel Tat complexes, and vaccines comprising them (Inventor: Ensoli B.; Applicant: ISS (100%); priority date March 11, 2004; N. PCT/EP2005/003043, Publication N. WO2005/090391). There are no products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: BE PM. Performed the experiments: VAS EK IKS SM MRPC IM ET IB CP Patrizia Leone EFB MPMF CA MP LB FT LS MTM MF FF AB IS JBU BR KM FD CC FN Pasqualina Leone BC CS. Analyzed the data: AC S. Bellino MM FE AT OL S. Buttò OP. Wrote the paper: BE PM AC. Coordinated the studies performed in Novartis: RR JBU SWB. Contributed to data analysis and discussion: EG.