New vaccine for HIV Has increased excitement after 97% success in stimulating a rare set of immune cells that play an important role in the fight against the virus in the first human trials.
The· vaccine This approach is new to stop the rapidly changing human immunodeficiency virus that has evaded vaccines in the past because it is good at directly attacking parts of the immune system and evading other immune defenses. It is an attempt. Developed by San Diego’s Scripps Research and non-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) scientists, the vaccine is in Phase I clinical trials and has been tested in only 48 people so far.
However, the results of the trial caused excitement, especially as Scripps and IAVI partnered with Moderna to create an mRNA version of the vaccine. According to Scripps Research, this is a step towards increasing the availability of vaccines.
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“With many collaborators on the research team, we have shown that vaccines can be designed to stimulate rare immune cells with specific properties, and that this targeted stimulation can be very efficient for humans. “William Schief, an immunologist at Scripps, who led the vaccine in the lab, said. development of, Said in a statement.. “I believe this approach is key to making HIV vaccines and probably important for making vaccines against other pathogens.”
Challenging vaccine
HIV vaccine research Started in the 1980s, Shortly after discovery Virus It causes AIDS. However, progress has been slow and only the combination of the two vaccines tested in the Thai RV144 trial has been shown to be effective. The results of the trial, announced in 2009, Showed a 31% reduction Infectious diseases caused by a combination of vaccines. It’s too low to submit for regulatory approval, but vaccine developers continue to study what works and what doesn’t work for combinations. Follow-up It was suggested that this limited protection would disappear after about a year.
This virus is a difficult target for vaccination because it is good at avoiding antibody reactions in the body. antibody A protein that is prepared to recognize a foreign invader or antigen, quickly binds to that invader, neutralizes it, or tags it for destruction by other immune cells. Vaccines work by presenting dead or harmless antigens to the immune system, allowing the development of antibodies without the threat of disease. However, highly effective vaccines have not yet been developed because HIV mutates rapidly to avoid antibodies.
The new approach focuses on a rare set of antibodies known as widely neutralizing antibodies. These antibodies can bind to the HIV spike protein. HIV is part of the virus and does not change much from strain to strain. Peplomers are the key that viruses use to invade cells, so they cannot make many mutations without locking out the virus.
The problem is that widely neutralizing antibodies are secreted by just a handful (one millionth) of the B cells in the immune system, Schief said. B cells are cells that produce antibodies.
“To get the right antibody response, you first need to prime the right B cells,” he said.
New technology for new vaccines
A new approach is targeted at this particular set of B cells with a vaccine compound called eOD-GT860mer. In early safety trials, 48 healthy adult volunteers were given either vaccine candidates or placebo injections. The study does not directly test whether the vaccine prevented HIV infection, but produced antibodies that neutralize the vaccine safely and more extensively in the shot participants than in the placebo-received comparison group. I checked to see if I did.
Results presented at the International AIDS Society HIV Research Prevention Virtual Conference on February 3 showed that 97% of vaccinated participants found the antibody of interest.
There is a long way to go for potential new HIV vaccines, including follow-up studies to test the efficacy and safety of large numbers of people. Researchers hope that they can use mRNA technology in partnership with Moderna to take advantage of the safety and efficacy successes found in the company’s COVID-19 vaccine and speed up the process.
Originally published in Live Science.
