Nothing Human Is Alien
11th July 2010, 09:29
(July 9) -- A team of American scientists has announced a milestone finding that could spur the development of effective vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS.
As AOL News reported Thursday, two antibodies that neutralize 91 percent of HIV strains have been discovered by researchers with the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center.
An unidentified man, dubbed Donor 45, naturally produced the antibodies. If scientists can isolate the area of the virus they target, it might be possible to create a vaccine that would prompt the human body to create the two proteins, VRC01 and VRC02.
The finding is no doubt an exciting one for scientists investigating HIV, especially because other efforts at vaccine production have proved futile. Already, experts are chiming in on what the discovery could mean for prevention and treatment.
1. Science has done the impossible.
Finding a vaccine for HIV has seemed like a major long shot, mostly because the virus is constantly mutating (190 strains are thought to exist today).
But this group of antibodies targets a spot on the surface of the virus that doesn't morph. In other words, "the [virus'] Achilles' heel," Dr. Alan Bernstein, director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, told Canada's CTV. "So the big push now is how do we turn that information into thinking about a vaccine."
2. More than a vaccine, the antibodies could mean better treatment.
Some experts, like study co-author Dr. Gary Nabel, think the antibodies might yield therapeutic approaches to managing HIV/AIDS among the already infected.
"In infected people, we may be looking at it in combination with medication and determine whether you can get more effective control of the virus and suppress it down to low levels," he told ABC News. "The hope would be that we could suppress the virus and increase life span and improve quality of life."
3. Regardless, there's lots more to be done.
Indeed, though the antibodies seem ideal, scientists will need to test them more thoroughly before they even consider trying them out on human subjects.
"The goal is to vaccinate individuals and have their own immune systems make an antibody like this," Dr. John Mascola, a study co-author, told Health Day. "To do that, we have to design a new vaccine, study it first in animal models, and then try it in small scale human studies, and see if it does what we expect it to do. That takes a quite a bit of time and effort."
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/hiv-antibodies-experts-foresee-vaccines-treatment-and-a-long-wait/19547957
As AOL News reported Thursday, two antibodies that neutralize 91 percent of HIV strains have been discovered by researchers with the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center.
An unidentified man, dubbed Donor 45, naturally produced the antibodies. If scientists can isolate the area of the virus they target, it might be possible to create a vaccine that would prompt the human body to create the two proteins, VRC01 and VRC02.
The finding is no doubt an exciting one for scientists investigating HIV, especially because other efforts at vaccine production have proved futile. Already, experts are chiming in on what the discovery could mean for prevention and treatment.
1. Science has done the impossible.
Finding a vaccine for HIV has seemed like a major long shot, mostly because the virus is constantly mutating (190 strains are thought to exist today).
But this group of antibodies targets a spot on the surface of the virus that doesn't morph. In other words, "the [virus'] Achilles' heel," Dr. Alan Bernstein, director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, told Canada's CTV. "So the big push now is how do we turn that information into thinking about a vaccine."
2. More than a vaccine, the antibodies could mean better treatment.
Some experts, like study co-author Dr. Gary Nabel, think the antibodies might yield therapeutic approaches to managing HIV/AIDS among the already infected.
"In infected people, we may be looking at it in combination with medication and determine whether you can get more effective control of the virus and suppress it down to low levels," he told ABC News. "The hope would be that we could suppress the virus and increase life span and improve quality of life."
3. Regardless, there's lots more to be done.
Indeed, though the antibodies seem ideal, scientists will need to test them more thoroughly before they even consider trying them out on human subjects.
"The goal is to vaccinate individuals and have their own immune systems make an antibody like this," Dr. John Mascola, a study co-author, told Health Day. "To do that, we have to design a new vaccine, study it first in animal models, and then try it in small scale human studies, and see if it does what we expect it to do. That takes a quite a bit of time and effort."
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/hiv-antibodies-experts-foresee-vaccines-treatment-and-a-long-wait/19547957