A vaccine for HIV may be closer in our reach.
Duke researchers recently discovered an antibody in human blood serum that could have a significant impact on the development of a vaccine for human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. The antibody is uniquely powerful in that it is broadly neutralizing, which means that it is resistant to numerous strains of the virus.
The study, which was funded by the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, the Duke Center for AIDS Research and the NIH, appeared in the Journal of Virology earlier this year.
“Most antibodies only block a narrow spectrum of HIV viruses,” said lead author Xiaoying Shen, postdoctoral associate in the department of surgery.
The antibody targets the membrane-proximal external region of HIV, the membrane responsible for cell fusion. By inhibiting the fusion of HIV cells to host cells, infection can be prevented.
Researchers foresee that this discovery will have significant implications for vaccine design.
“It really suggests that the human body is capable of making these types of antibodies, which are broadly neutralizing,” said Georgia Tomaras, assistant professor in the department of surgery and the senior author of the study. “So, if we can learn how to make these same types, that would be useful for vaccine design.”
The main obstacle for the development of a vaccine is the time it takes for this antibody to develop, Tomaras said. Broadly neutralizing antibodies usually develop two years after the onset of the infection.
“Now the challenge for vaccine design is how can we elicit an antibody like this but much earlier so that it can come up before the infection, before it’s too late,” Shen said. “We can catch the window of opportunity to overcome the infection before it’s established.”
Other breakthrough findings have given researchers a positive outlook on the development of a vaccine.
“When you’re talking about HIV vaccine design, our study and many studies out there are doing similar types of analyses and are really increasing the pace at which we might find another breakthrough for HIV vaccines,” Tomaras said.
Tomaras noted a recent HIV vaccine trial in Thailand, which demonstrated moderate preventative effects in a pool of more than 16,000 subjects.
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