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Topic: HIV Vaccine, A Big Step ForwardPosted By: Technophobe
Subject: HIV Vaccine, A Big Step Forward
Date Posted: June 06 2018 at 3:19am
An Experimental HIV Vaccine Stopped The Virus In Animal Tests & The Research Is An Important Step Forward
In a major step forward for potential HIV prevention, new research shows that an https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180604125008.htm" rel="nofollow - experimental HIV vaccine may
halt the development of the virus: it’s been shown to neutralize dozens
of HIV strains in guinea pigs, monkeys, and mice by kick starting the
immune response via HIV-fighting antibodies, according to a recent press
release. Once a person is infected with HIV, the virus starts attacking
immune cells that would normally protect the body from illness and
infection. But, with this important new development, the new vaccine
might prevent the disease from taking hold entirely, and that's major
news.
The findings were reported yesterday in the Nature Medicine
journal by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institutes of Health. The
press release further states that the vaccine introduces antibodies
which target a vulnerable site on the virus, potentially neutralizing
infection.
"This elegant study is a potentially important step forward in the ongoing quest to develop a safe and effective https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/hiv-vaccine-elicits-antibodies-animals-neutralize-dozens-hiv-strains" rel="nofollow - HIV vaccine ,”
NIAID director Anthony S. Fauci MD said in the press release. He also
says that “NIH scientists have used their detailed knowledge of the
structure of HIV to find an unusual site of vulnerability on the virus
and design a novel and potentially powerful vaccine.”
There's no doubt that health outcomes and quality of life for the nearly http://www.who.int/gho/hiv/en/" rel="nofollow - 37 million people who live with HIV/AIDS globally have improved over the years, thanks to prophylactic treatment options like https://www.bustle.com/articles/46153-does-truvada-work-how-prep-helps-prevent-hiv-and-whether-it-might-be-for-you" rel="nofollow - PReP , but researchers haven't come up with a vaccine yet. If the https://www.axios.com/new-hiv-vaccine-test-shows-promise-3c6e2c41-2e19-4c96-a3f4-6e07aa67397e.html" rel="nofollow - new vaccine
proves consistently effective, though, it will be the first to protect
people from contracting HIV in the first place, according to Axios.
According
to a recent press release, researchers examined an epitope — which is
the site on an antigen (a toxic or foreign substance) which antibodies
bind to — called the HIV fusion peptide. The HIV virus uses this peptide
to bind to the cells it enters into and infects. The HIV fusion peptide
was chosen because its structure is similar across multiple HIV
strains, and researchers found that immune responses during testing were
reacted strongly to it. The research team also designed a bunch of
different immunogens — which are proteins designed to activate the
immune response — in order to make the vaccine, and then tested it on
mice to see which immunogens most effectively produced antibodies and a
strong immune response. They found thatthe best
vaccine combination consisted of eight amino acids of the HIV epitope
bonded to a carrier that elicited a super robust immune reaction. The
research team then tested different combinations of injections on mice,
and analyzed the various immune responses in order to see which shot
produced the strongest one.
The press release also reports that scientists are now working to
refine the vaccine regimen to make it even more effective; they also aim
for more consistent results with fewer injections. So far, the
experimental vaccine neutralized up to 31 percent of viruses from a
“globally representative panel of 208 HIV strains,” according to the
press release, and was further tested on monkeys and guinea pigs.
Researchers are further investigating vaccine development for use in
preventing HIV in monkeys, and, so far, it looks like the current
combination may be effective in multiple species. NIAID researchers hope
to use these findings to optimize the new vaccine’s effectiveness, and
then create a version suitable for testing in human volunteers in future
clinical trials.
For now, the development of the new vaccine
points to a potentially promising future — in which HIV prevention is
possible. The research team hopes to start human clinical trials by
mid-2019, and whatever those findings may show, the fact that it's at
all possible is a major step forward in this research.