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12 Jan 2012
There may finally be a vaccine for HIV if all goes well from a new trial conducted on monkeys. HIV researchers are currently conducting tests on a vaccine combination to ward off Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), believed to originate from the primates, by about 80%.
According to lead author and virologist Dan Barouch, the study conducted on groups of Rhesus Macaque (Macaca Mulatta) over a period of about one year resulted in a positive light and “…gives us a blueprint for how we should move forward in vaccines to test and what kind of responses we hope they’ll induce…”
The primates involved were given a range of combination vaccines including an initial vaccine and another booster vaccine after another six months. After which, the groups were exposed to SIV of a different strain of which the monkeys have trouble mounting a strong immune response. 75% of the subjects which received no vaccine developed SIV upon single exposure, whereas only 12% of them receiving the most optimistic vaccine combination contracted the virus.
Despite the positive results, the researchers are careful not to exaggerate any success of any animal trials. But, combining results from earlier studies, the outputs will prove useful for future vaccine research. Also, efforts are now under way to develop a HIV vaccine version from the SIV vaccine in this trial.
Citing a quote from Bruce Walker, virologist at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in Boston, Massachusetts, not involved in the study “To me, if it’s possible in monkeys, it’s got to be possible in humans.”
Source: Nature
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