In acute HIV-1 infection, the dominant initial plasma antibody (Ab) response is targeted to gp41 and the majority of gp41-binding antibodies are crossreactive responses of pre-existing B cells originally activated by non-HIV antigens.32 Interestingly, a similar diversion of the antibody response toward gp41 might explain the lack of efficacy of a recently reported vaccination strategy with DNA/Ad5 expressing the HIV-1 Env-gp140 (HVTN 505 study). The gene discussed is ERVW-1; the disease is HIV-1 infection.