Washington. The first doses of an AIDS vaccine using messenger RNA technology have been administered to humans, US biotech company Moderna and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative announced Thursday.
The so-called phase 1 trial will be carried out in the United States in 56 healthy adults without HIV. Despite four decades of research, scientists have yet to develop a vaccine against this disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.
However, the recent successes of messenger RNA technology, which has enabled the development of Covid-19 vaccines in record time, including that of Moderna, have raised hopes.
The objective of the vaccine being tested is to stimulate the production of a certain type of antibody (bnAb), capable of acting against the numerous circulating variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The vaccine aims to educate the B cells, which are part of our immune system, to produce these antibodies.
To do this, the trial will test the injection of an initial immunogen, that is, a substance capable of eliciting an immune response, and a booster immunogen injected later. They will be delivered via messenger RNA technology.
“The production of bnAbs is widely considered a target of HIV vaccination, and this is a first step in that process,” the statement said.
“Other immunogens will be needed to guide the immune system on the right path, but this combination of a booster and a booster could be the key first component of a potential HIV vaccine regimen,” said David Diemert, lead scientist on the trial at one of the four centers where it is carried out, the George Washington University.
The immunogens used were developed by the scientific research organization International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Scripps Research Institute, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAD) of United States, and Modern.
Last year, a first trial, which did not use messenger RNA but tested the first immunogen, showed that the desired immune response was obtained in several dozen participants. The next step was to collaborate with Moderna.
Given the speed with which messenger RNA vaccines can be produced, this platform offers a more flexible and responsive approach to testing and designing a vaccine.
“The search for an HIV vaccine is long and difficult, and having new tools in terms of immunogens and platform could be key to making rapid progress,” said Mark Feinberg, director of IAVI.
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