Researchers find that broadly-protective HIV Vaccine Possible!!

[J220]

From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070529162608.htm . Although it doesn't make it clear if this has either/ or preventive or therapeutic applications, it's still great news. It's certainly the right direction!

Broadly-protective HIV Vaccine May Be Possible

Science Daily — New research conducted at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) suggests that it may be possible to develop a vaccine that protects against the myriad strains of the HIV virus. HIV is extremely variable, so an effective vaccine may need to stimulate the body to produce cross-reactive antibodies that will neutralize multiple viral strains. These results demonstrate that induction of truly broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies may be an achievable goal.

To be effective, an HIV vaccine must induce the body to produce cross-reactive antibodies that can neutralize multiple strains. USU Professors CAPT Gerald Quinnan, Jr., M.D., USPHS, and Christopher Broder, Ph.D., and their colleagues at USU attempted to elicit these broad-range antibodies in an animal model by immunizing with a particular HIV-1 surface protein, designated R2 gp140, and an immune response-boosting component.

The researchers tested antibodies generated by the immunizations to determine their effectiveness in neutralizing the infectivity of a variety of HIV-1 strains. Antibodies produced as a result of immunization neutralized all 48 strains of HIV-1 tested (!). The results are encouraging for vaccine development, because they showed that it is possible to elicit a broad-spectrum antibody response.

This research was supported by a grant from a number of collaborators including the National Institutes of Health/NIAID and The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc.

Article: "Extensively Cross-Reactive Anti-HIV-1 Neutralizing Antibodies Induced by gp140 Immunization" appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/papbyrecent.shtml

[SASA39]

But it is a protective vaccine and not a therapeutic one.

[J220]

It seems to imply it is preventive, but it doesn't state it categorically. In any case, even if it is a preventive vaccine it would still have therapeutic application because it would elicit an immune response that would kill off the virus as soon as it is replicated from infected cells (speculation on my part). So it it would be a non-med, long-term treatment that would keep your virus in check, perhaps indefinitely. Or, as it is believed that Dr. Kang's vaccine would work, it could turn out to be both a preventive and therapeutic outright, but causing the body to seek out all virus AND infected cells in the body and destroy them. The body knows what to do with pathogens, it's just that scientists haven't found the particular vaccine that will cause an immune response strong enough to clear the body of the virus altogether. May it be that this is it...