Scientists are cautiously optimistic about the HIV vaccine candidate

A Pakistani technician takes samples from a laboratory along a ribbon promoting World AIDS Day in Islamabad on November 30, 2013. American researchers believe that there could be have an HIV vaccine within 10 years.

Samples taken from a laboratory along a ribbon promoting World AIDS Day in Islamabad on November 30, 2013. Researchers in the United States believe that there might be have an HIV vaccine in the next 10 years.

protect people against HIV-1, the most common type of virus and the one that causes the most diseases in the world.

A new vaccine appears safe and induces an immune response in humans and rhesus monkeys in an early trial, According to a new study published Friday in the journal The Lancet

this means that it's safe enough for move on to the next phase of testing, which involves a greater number of humans. It is one of five experimental concepts of HIV-1 vaccines that have reached the age of 35 years of the HIV pandemic.

With 1.8 million new cases of human immunodeficiency virus each year, according to UN estimates. People living with HIV around the world, finding a vaccine has been urgent – and extremely difficult.

Scientists use these initial phases of clinical trials to determine the best dosage to use and to see if a vaccine is safe

A new vaccine was tested in 393 healthy people considered low-risk Infection and 72 rhesus monkeys. Participants in the human trials came from 12 clinics in South Africa, East Africa, Thailand and the United States.

In addition to being well tolerated by all subjects tested and inducing an immune response against HIV in humans,% protection against infection by the simian-human immunodeficiency virus in rhesus monkeys. It is not known if this would provide protection for humans.

As this phase of the test has been considered a success, the vaccine can be tested in a wider population of patients at higher risk of infection. This trial began in the fall and is ongoing in 2,600 women in sub-Saharan Africa

The researchers warn that the results of the early test do not mean a viable vaccine. The ability to induce specific immune responses to HIV does not necessarily mean that the vaccine will protect humans from HIV infection.

"I would say that we are satisfied with this data up to now, but we must interpret the data with caution." study co-authored Dr. Dan H. Barouch, a senior researcher on the study, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research. "We must recognize that developing an HIV vaccine is an unprecedented challenge, and we will not know for sure whether this vaccine will protect humans."

Only four vaccine concepts were tested in humans, and only one proof of protection in an efficacy test, but the effect was deemed too low to make it usable.

The new vaccine has been shown to be protective in monkeys, and although antibodies against HIV have been generated in humans, it is not known whether the vaccine will protect against infection.

"This is a very interesting study.It is obvious that the search for an HIV vaccine is very difficult," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, who did not participate at the study, but did a similar research as a co-principal investigator of the Emory-CDC HIV Clinical Trials Unit. His unit is one of 37 clinical trial units responsible for implementing the scientific program of the International Network of Clinical Research on HIV / AIDS of the National Institutes of Health

"Despite All Progress we have known, we need a vaccine. It is essential, and this new vaccine, although there is a long way to go, to see solid evidence to move to the next phase of testing. "