A new vaccine against HIV has shown promise in Phase 1 trials, leading to the production of efficient antibodies in 97 percent of participants.
This is based on a report from the IAVI and Scripps Research published online in European Pharmaceutical Review.
Though there are ongoing researches to find a lasting cure to HIV, there is presently no licensed HIV vaccine in the market.
The first HIV vaccine trial opened in 1987 at the National Institute of Health, Clinical Centre, Bethesda, Maryland, and its Phase 1 trial enrolled 138 healthy, HIV-negative volunteers.
This new vaccine, which is the product of collaboration between the Scripps Research Institute and non-profit IAVI, draws on a novel vaccination approach to help patients develop antibodies against HIV.
The approach, known as ‘germline targeting,’ involves triggering “naive B cells” in bodies to produce broadly neutralising antibodies that, in turn, fight the pathogen.
A professor and immunologist at Scripps Research and executive director of vaccine design at IAVI’s Neutralising Antibody Centre, where the vaccine was developed, Dr. William Schief, said the study demonstrates proof of principle for a new vaccine concept for HIV, and one that could be applied to other pathogens.
The Phase 1 trial included 48 healthy adults who received either a placebo or two doses of the vaccine compound along with an adjuvant developed by GlaxoSmithKline.
It noted that by the end of the trial, 97 percent of the participants in experimental groups, had the desired type of antibody in their bloodstream.
The Senior Vice President and Director, Fred Hutch’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Dr. Julie McElrath, described it as a landmark study in the HIV vaccine field, noting, “This is the first time we’ve been successful in inducing secretion of broadly-neutralising antibodies against HIV.”
The researchers said they would collaborate with Moderna, a biotechnology company, to develop and test an mRNA-based vaccine for the same task as their current compound, noting that if successful, it will considerably speed up the process.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Scripps Research, Dr. Dennis Burton, noted that for now, the compound works as a proof of concept, and that it shows that the human immune system can be primed and prepared to face terrifying pathogens.
“This clinical trial has shown that we can drive immune responses in predictable ways to make new and better vaccines, and not just for HIV.
“We believe this type of vaccine engineering can be applied more broadly, bringing about a new day in vaccinology,” he said.
The team suggested in the report that the same approach could also be used to create new vaccines for other ‘stubborn’ diseases like influenza, dengue, Zika, hepatitis C, and malaria.
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