A supervaccine shows promise in monkeys with HIV

by time news

US researchers have developed an HIV vaccine that shows promise in rhesus macaques. In an article published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group describes the approach they took to develop the new vaccine and how well it worked when tested in monkeys.

As the pandemic progresses, some have noted that while a vaccine for Covid-19 was quickly developed, there is no vaccine for HIV yet.

The reason, the researchers note, is that HIV-1 evolves much faster than the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this new effort, the researchers have taken a multipronged approach to developing their vaccine.

Potential HIV vaccines tend to focus on getting the body to make antibodies that bind to certain parts of the virus. That involves developing vaccines that prompt antibodies that attach to a spike protein on the virus that prevents it from latching onto and thus infecting a given cell. The problem with this approach is that HIV changes its spike protein very quickly.. That means an effective HIV vaccine will need to be able to target multiple neutralizing antibodies that cover a broad spectrum of proteins.

Previous research has shown that some people naturally produce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), and scientists have been trying to mimic that ability for years.

As explained in this work, HIV-1 has six subunits that help with infection; three that adhere to target cells and three that fuse with cell membranes.

The researchers found a patient who had been infected with HIV at age three and who had a natural bnAb and therefore protection against all subunits.

The team found a way to isolate and mimic the antibodies in that patient and then used them to develop their vaccine. They also added a adjuvanta chemical known to help with an immune response .

Testing their new vaccine on rhesus macaques (on the monkey version of HIV), they found it to be semi-effective in those given low doses and highly effective in those given a full dose: two out of seven were not infected after repeated exposures.

You may also like

Leave a Comment