A New Chance for an AIDS Vaccine

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 By Dr. Prater

New antibodies against HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, have been discovered for the first time in more than a decade. PG9 and PG16 are broadly neutralizing antibodies, and the first to be isolated from donors in developing countries.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a range of opportunistic infections and immune deficiency symptoms that occur in the context of T cell loss. The loss of immunity is the result of infection with HIV, a retrovirus recognized in the 1980s. The disease has killed more than 20 million people in less than three decades.

Antibodies against the virus are thought to be the key to creating a vaccine for HIV infection. There is currently no cure for AIDS, which is the last and fatal stage of HIV infection. Treatments currently consist of pharmaceutical cocktails to which the virus is showing signs of resistance. A vaccine has been a long sought after “holy grail” of AIDS research, but attempts at creating such a drug have hit obstacles at every turn.

Antibodies are the specific proteins produced by immune cells in response to a particular pathogen, such as HIV. After binding the pathogen, antibodies allow it to be targeted and destroyed by the body’s defenses, preventing or limiting infection. HIV is a different type of pathogen in that it infects the very cells that attack it, and it undergoes constant mutation, making most antibodies obsolete for the broad range of HIV variants. Broadly neutralizing antibodies bind a broader range of viral variants.

The new antibodies also bind to areas of the HIV molecule that have previously proven difficult to exploit, the more vulnerable areas of the pathogen. These areas are the surface proteins HIV uses to infect cells, gp120 and gp41. Once the virus infects the immune cells, it effectively hides away until the body is no longer mounting an effective response against it. Preventing this infection is key to vaccination, and also a way in which current HIV-positive individuals may avoid immune deficiency.

The task at hand is to develop a drug that promotes the creation of the broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV, i.e. a vaccine. These are not the first broadly neutralizing antibodies to be discovered, but they are more potent against the virus than other antibodies. Increasing their levels in current patients, and arming high-risk individuals with them, may be the first step in curbing the AIDS pandemic.

Further work on these antibodies and the development of a vaccine against HIV is being carried out by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

The copyright of the article, "A New Chance for an AIDS Vaccine," in "Interesting Health Articles" is owned by Alicia M Prater, PhD. Permission to republish this article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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