Significant clinical results of the first phase of the HIV vaccination : 97% of participants have targeted immune responses

Reporter : Zhang Meng Ran / Publisher : Science & Technology Daily / http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2021/2/452901.shtm / Direct translation / Image : Avert.org  illustration of HIV virus

According to recent news from the online edition of "Medical Express", the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Scripps Institute announced on 3 February 2021 that the first phase of clinical trials of a new HIV vaccine has produced promising results. Among the vaccinated participants, 97% found a targeted immune response.

AIDS is a disease that cannot be cured or prevented. Its pathogen HIV can infect and kill immune system cells, including T cells and macrophages. As an RNA virus, HIV has a high frequency of mutations in its genome. After more than 30 years of research, humans have still not found an effective HIV vaccine or therapy.

The new HIV vaccine successfully stimulated the production of rare immune cells (needed to start producing antibodies and fight against rapidly mutating viruses). Clinical trials have shown that 97% of the vaccinated participants have found a targeted immune response.

The vaccine developer and immunologist at the Scripps Institute, William Shu Yifu, said that they hypothesized many years ago that in order to induce the emergence of "broad neutralizing antibodies" (bnAbs), the process must be initiated by triggering the correct B cells. These cells are unique and hopefully develop into cells that secrete "widely neutralizing antibodies."

"Extensively neutralizing antibodies" can attach to the spike protein on the surface of HIV virus particles, bind to very important but "hard-to-access" areas, and then make them ineffective. These areas change even among different HIV strains. Not big. The research team activated the correct B cells this time, confirming that the vaccine immunogen has the corresponding ability.

The researchers said that the study proved a "new HIV vaccine concept", and this concept can also be applied to other pathogens. Dennis Burton, an immunologist and microbiologist at the Scripps Institute, believes that this is a great achievement in the entire field of vaccine science-it is not only for HIV, but also for vaccines against other challenging pathogens, such as Influenza, malaria, dengue fever and hepatitis virus, etc.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Director Julie McEllas said that a landmark study in the field of HIV vaccines has demonstrated that it is practical to induce "widely neutralizing antibodies" to combat HIV infection feasibly.