Broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies

Broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies (bNAbs) are neutralizing antibodies which neutralize multiple HIV-1 viral strains.^[1] bNAbs are unique in that they target conserved epitopes of the virus, meaning the virus may mutate, but the targeted epitopes will still exist.^[2] In contrast, non-bNAbs are specific for individual viral strains with unique epitopes. The discovery of bNAbs has led to an important area of research, namely, discovery of a vaccine, not only limited to HIV, but also other rapidly mutating viruses like influenza.^{[citation needed]}