September 9, 2022 01:57
A team of researchers from various institutions in the United States has developed an HIV vaccine that shows promising results in monkeys with the disease.
In their paper, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the researchers describe the approach they took to developing the new vaccine and how well it worked when tested in monkeys.
The public noticed the rapid development of a vaccine for Covid-19 disease, while HIV, which causes AIDS, is still without a vaccine despite its discovery decades ago. Scientists say this is because the HIV-1 virus that causes AIDS evolves much faster than SARS-CoV-2.
In this new attempt, researchers took a multi-pronged approach to developing their own anti-AIDS vaccine.
The researchers began by noting that potential HIV vaccines tend to focus on getting the body to produce antibodies that bind to specific parts of the virus. In general, this involves developing vaccines that induce antibodies that bind to a skeletal protein on the virus that prevents it from attaching and thus infecting a specific cell. The problem with this approach is that HIV alters the spike protein too quickly. This means that a successful HIV vaccine must be able to target multiple neutralizing antibodies covering a wide range of proteins.
Previous research has shown that some people produce modified antibodies and scientists are trying to mimic this ability. To this end, they note that HIV-1 contains six subunits that aid in infection, three that bind to target cells and three that fuse with cell membranes.
The researchers found an HIV-positive patient at the age of three who had modified antibodies. Thus, it has protection against all subunits. By putting in a lot of effort, the team members found a way to isolate and mimic the antibodies in that patient and then used it to develop their vaccine. They also added adjuvant, a chemical known to aid in the immune response.
Testing their new vaccine on macaques (the monkey’s version of HIV), they found that it was nearly effective in monkeys given low doses and very effective in those given the full dose, as two out of seven did not become infected after repeated exposure.
Source: Al Ittihad – Abu Dhabi
#Vaccine #shows #promising #results #AIDS