WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute were successful in conducting a breakthrough study by developing a vaccine that can trigger powerful antibodies to neutralize HIV strains.
'This work is a major step forward as it shows the feasibility of inducing antibodies with immunizations that neutralize the most difficult strains of HIV,' said senior author Barton Haynes, Director of the institute. 'Our next steps are to induce more potent neutralizing antibodies against other sites on HIV to prevent virus escape. We are not there yet, but the way forward is now much clearer.'
Researchers stated that most HIV antibodies can neutralize only a single strain whereas the newly found vaccine can trigger antibodies to kill 15 to 35 percent of HIV strains during the experiments.
The clinical trial, published in the journal Cell, was conducted on 20 participants in 2019. However, it was halted after a candidate had a severe allergic reaction to polyethylene glycol, a component used to stabilize the formulation.
Later, the trial resumed after removing the component from the new vaccine. Meanwhile, the researchers analyzed the available data to find that after just two doses the vaccine has successfully produced broadly neutralizing antibodies.
'To get a broadly neutralizing antibody, a series of events needs to happen, and it typically takes several years post-infection,' commented lead author Wilton Williams, an associate professor in Duke's Department of Surgery. 'The challenge has always been to recreate the necessary events in a shorter space of time using a vaccine. It was very exciting to see that, with this vaccine molecule, we could actually get neutralizing antibodies to emerge within weeks.'
Researchers emphasized that further work is required to strengthen the antibody response.
'Ultimately, we will need to hit all the sites on the envelope that are vulnerable so that the virus cannot escape,' Haynes continued. 'But this study demonstrates that broadly neutralizing antibodies can indeed be induced in humans by vaccination. Now that we know that induction is possible, we can replicate what we have done here with immunogens that target the other vulnerable sites on the virus envelope.'
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