An experimental vaccine for HIV is expected to be tested on humans in 2019. The new vaccine attacks vulnerable parts of HIV by extracting powerful antibodies, and North American scientists have already successfully tested it on small animals such as mice, guinea pigs and India and monkeys. Some strains of HIV were neutralized in these animals after the vaccine was successful. The results were published in the scientific journal “Nature Medicine” by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in the USA. Anthony S. Fauci, director of NIAID, praised the results, saying this could be a very important step towards creating an antivirus. “NIH scientists used their detailed knowledge of the structure of HIV to find an unusual site of vulnerability in the virus and design a new, potentially powerful vaccine. This study is an important step in the ongoing quest to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine,” says Fauci. Based on epitopes – a specific part of an antigen to which an antibody can bind –, the vaccine can extract these antibodies, after identifying powerful antibodies that can annihilate the virus. For HIVPlus magazine, which dealt with the same subject, Benjamin Adams explained how the researchers reached this conclusion. “Investigators designed many immunogens, or proteins designed to activate an immune response, to create the vaccine, using the known structure of the fusion peptide,” he said. After combining different types of protein plus an HIV spike, scientists were able to neutralize around 31% of the virus, which could mean 208 strains from around the world. Human trials should begin in the second half of next year. With information from Pheeno
