Antigenic drift, defined as the genetic variation of the HIV-1 envelope gene that results in antigenic variation during natural infection, may confound attempts to achieve protective immunity using a vaccine based solely on HIV-1 envelope proteins. Inclusion of conserved core and polymerase proteins along with envelope protein in a candidate vaccine may address some of the problems with antigenic variability. A prime-boost immunization approach using a novel priming immunogen expressing env, gag, and pol genes of the HIV-1 IIIB strain will be attempted in this study.