scientists consider giving up search for aids vaccine

[Dachshund]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7484.html

[tash08]

Well, search for an effective vaccine has been an arduous one yet I don't think that we should give up.We learning more each and single day. I mean just how long it took to develop a vaccine against polio or Hep A&B. Polio vaccine took 47 years to develop. Of course Hiv-1 is quite different,all the mutations,and the ability to escape the immune system is somewhat tricky, we know a lot more about the bug than any other viral pathogen. And first vaccine against Hep A was just developed in 1992, which after all was not that long ago. I remain optimistic of the future of Hiv research, in the mean time for those of us that are all ready living with this microbe. I wish you all a successful treatment so we can be ready when the cure comes our way.

[Jake72]

I am skeptical whenever anyone uses terms like "never" or "impossible." After all, at one time things like airplanes or penicillin would have been considered "impossible."

Also, as we've discussed in this forum before, this seemingly grim news does offer us (the infected) some hope. If a preventive vaccine were discovered tomorrow, then people might leap to the conclusion that HIV is truly over, and research money would be poured into other conditions, leaving HIV-positive folks to continue our daily pill regimens, simply echoes of some out-of-date medical concern. 

There are millions of us living with HIV throughout the world, with many more unfortunately poised to become infected. If a preventive vaccine is deemed very unlikely and since prevention education has largely been disappointing, then researchers practically have no option other than to focus on treatment (gene therapy, "therapeutic vaccines," nano, etc.). And we can benefit immensely from this. 

[ronaldinho]

The problem with finding a vaccine is that, after more than 20 years of research,  scientists still do not know how exactly HIV causes AIDs. All the succesfull antiretrovirals hinder the processes of virus replication, they create a hostile environenment for the virus in our body, and in this way, by lowering viral load, they keep HIV from harming the immune system, but it is still unclear   what is the mechanism by which HIV causes CD4 depletion.

This is such a depressing  fact.......i thought that AIDS was the result of HIV killing CD4 cells more rapidly than the immune system could replace them. Apparently, it is not that simple.

[appleboy]

Dr. Hines spoke of this during my visit with her yesterday.  She said it is promising but they need to go back to table and focus on what they are really wanting to do.  I found that quite interesting coming from her.  She is also on the research team for HIV at the University of PA. 
AppleBoy

[bimazek]

this headline is completely FALSE
yellow journalism
this is a sad example of a lazy lazy journalist writing a silly peace to get readers
sad that it is in a gay friendly publication
if the  lazy journalist would have just listened to the 8 hour long video broadcast of the meeting of the top hiv vaccine researchers recently held, the  lazy journalist would have heard the head scientist categorically state that they would never never give up on trying to find a vaccine and in fact they would work harder and try to get more money for it

the other thing is getting a % of scientists to state something
well only one of them
probably in china
has to come up with the solution
and then this survey would be silly

this has zero meaning
the day before a scientist makes a discovery he would probably vote that the discovery is ten to twenty years away

then a flash a bolt of lightning and polio is solved
measles vaccine exists
the light bulb
electricity
a computer chip
etc

the moment before the dawn looks bleakest

mark my words

also check my posts

with harvards new discovery in feb 2008 of 273 hiv dependancy factors

they are getting close

they now know the exact gene - protein that all long term non progressors share

[Dachshund]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5539.html

[hartiepie]

Hmmmmm...... 35 scientists in two English-speaking countries were asked their opinions.

OK.

Not a very informative survey.

Opinions are like bellybuttons---everyone has one.

[Dachshund]

Hmmmmm...... 35 scientists in two English-speaking countries were asked their opinions.

OK.

Not a very informative survey.

Opinions are like bellybuttons---everyone has one.

...leading AIDS scientists, but what would they know? Wonder if they based their "opinions" on research? Leading AIDS scientists, why in the world would they survey AIDS scientists about AIDS, ridiculous I say.

[hartiepie]

35 scientists gave their opinions. Even 35 leading scientists is not many.

That's it for the article.

Now, what I would like to read is what caused them to come to these opinions. That would ---IMO-- be more interesting to read.

[Dachshund]

 

Even 35 leading scientists is not many.

How about 35 leading AIDS scientists? Ah never mind, you're right, it was only a survey.

[AtomicA]

vaccine failures or no it's not like the global scientific, governmental and pharmaceutical industries are simply going to walk away from this. They can't. Saying that a vaccine may never happen is very sensational but it doesn't change the amount of research that is going to go in to HIV. There are still 40+ million people living with/dying from HIV  and that number is only going to grow dramatically. It makes me wonder what they are trying to accomplish by writing stories like that or conducting surveys like that, is the media trying to convince us that we should give up research on HIV altogether? That idea is completely ridiculous. Since when has any scientific problem that confounds us over and over again been abandoned wholesale? good lord they spent billions building the biggest particle accelerator in history near Geneva to try and find a substance that very well might not exist. Heck, not everyone is even convinced that turning the thing on won't blow up the world! (I suppose we'll find out in a couple of months...). If we're willing to go to those lengths to try and find out what dark matter is, a question that has absolutely no practical relevance to pretty much anyone, then CLEARLY we're not going to stop looking for a way to cure a disease that has halved the life expectancies of dozens of countries.

It's a sensational story and they very well might be right about the prospect of a vaccine being a fantasy, but all that means is that that funding will go into different, novel treatment approaches that could have ramifications and benefits far beyond the scope of HIV.

[NewYorkKat]

I felt that scientists should come up with a vaccine that does not make the immune system make antibodies. Instead, tell the immune system to make T-Cells without the receptors so HIV has nothing to cling onto. Isn't;t that how people who are naturally immune to HIV? I know it sounds like a far catch but hey it might take years but who knows!

[ronaldinho]

I felt that scientists should come up with a vaccine that does not make the immune system make antibodies. Instead, tell the immune system to make T-Cells without the receptors so HIV has nothing to cling onto. Isn't;t that how people who are naturally immune to HIV? I know it sounds like a far catch but hey it might take years but who knows!

They have already done this, but it is was not a vaccine,  it was a stem cell transplant, where the HIV positive patient received stem cells from a homozygote for the CCR5delta32 mutation. There is thread about this here in the research forums.

[NYCguy]

I felt that scientists should come up with a vaccine that does not make the immune system make antibodies. Instead, tell the immune system to make T-Cells without the receptors so HIV has nothing to cling onto. Isn't;t that how people who are naturally immune to HIV? I know it sounds like a far catch but hey it might take years but who knows!

There is also Sangamo Pharma's zink finger treatment which can convert most existing cd4s to permanently disable CCR5 receptors with a simple injection. When they're going to finally put this into trial is another question...