{"id":80761,"date":"2017-07-24T16:48:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T16:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/candidate-aids-vaccine-passes-early-test\/"},"modified":"2017-07-24T16:48:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T16:48:31","slug":"candidate-aids-vaccine-passes-early-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/candidate-aids-vaccine-passes-early-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidate AIDS vaccine passes early test"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n HIV infecting a human cell. Credit: NIH
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The three-decade-old quest for an AIDS vaccine received a shot of hope Monday when developers announced that a prototype triggered the immune system in an early phase of human trials.\n <\/p>\n

Tested in 393 people in the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Thailand, the drug “raised antibody responses in 100 percent of vaccine recipients,” Dan Barouch, a member of the research team, said in Paris.<\/p>\n

“These promising… data, together with advances from many other investigators in the field, support a new sense of optimism that development of an HIV vaccine might in fact be possible,” he told journalists at an HIV science conference organised by the International AIDS Society (IAS).<\/p>\n

A vaccine is widely considered the best way of ending an epidemic that has seen 76.1 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since the early 1980s. <\/p>\n

Some 35 million have died.<\/p>\n

Last year alone, 1.8 million people around the world were newly infected, according to UNAIDS, and there were 36.7 million people living with the virus.<\/p>\n

Of those, 19.5 million had access to virus-suppressing anti-retroviral treatment (ART).<\/p>\n

“The ultimate control of the worldwide HIV epidemic will likely require the development of a safe and effective vaccine,” said Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

“But to date, only four vaccine concepts have been tested for clinical efficacy in the 35-year history of the epidemic.”<\/p>\n

The team hopes their prototype will get approval for the next trial phase.<\/p>\n

The vaccine uses a common cold virus to deliver antigens\u2014foreign substances that induce the recipient’s immune system to produce intruder-fighting antibodies. The vaccine is boosted with a protein that raises antibody levels.<\/p>\n

‘Important news’<\/b><\/p>\n

In an earlier trial, the prototype prevented infection in 66 percent of rhesus lab monkeys, said Barouch.<\/p>\n

In humans, it has now been shown to be safe and to generate an immune response.<\/p>\n

“Of course, we don’t know yet whether this vaccine will protect humans,” the researcher said. <\/p>\n

“However, these data to date support the advancement of this vaccine candidate<\/a> into a larger… efficacy trial, which we hope will start before the end of this calendar year.”<\/p>\n

That will depend on additional data to be gathered in the coming months.<\/p>\n

IAS president Linda-Gail Bekker described the results as “important news”.<\/p>\n

Condoms are still at the frontline of efforts to prevent infection\u2014mainly through sex and blood contact.<\/p>\n

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Maryland, told AFP that developing a vaccine was “going to be very difficult” but “would be really a game changer”.<\/p>\n

“If in fact we get a very moderately-effective, a 50-60 percent effective vaccine, that will go a long way when you combine it together with other prevention modalities… to really having a major impact on the pandemic,” he said ahead of the conference.<\/p>\n

Another vaccine<\/a> candidate, dubbed HVTN 702, is being tested in a major clinical trial in South Africa.\n <\/p>\n

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\n Explore further:<\/b>
\n Experimental HIV vaccine regimen is well-tolerated, elicits immune responses<\/a>\n <\/p>\n