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A text ofAlain Labelle
This new vaccine strategy was developed by US scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California.
If these results are confirmed in humans, they would represent the largest breakthrough in the fight against HIV / AIDS in the last 30 years, believe the biophysicist Jiang Zhu and his colleagues.
They could actually lead to the design of an HIV / AIDS vaccine.
We view this new approach as a general solution to the longstanding problems in designing HIV vaccines.
Did you know?
- At present, 37 million people are living with HIV / AIDS on the planet. No less than 1.8 million new cases were diagnosed in 2016.
- According to national estimates, 63,110 Canadians were living with HIV by the end of 2016.
- Since 1985, no less than 84,409 cases have been diagnosed in Canada.
Thwart the viral envelope
The present vaccine is based on the Env protein present in the HIV envelope.
It is a very complex and variable molecule, with a variable form, which is very difficult to synthesize for the creation of a vaccine, but whose production is necessary in order to induce an effective immunity against HIV.
Expression of this gene allows retroviruses to target and attach to specific cell types and infiltrate a cell membrane.
But the Scripps Institute team has found a simple way to stabilize the Env protein for the various strains of HIV.
To date, we have made this change to the Env protein from 30 to 40 different strains of HIV and, in most cases, it has worked as a charm.
Mounted on virus-like particles that mimic an entire virus, the stabilized Env protein has triggered solid anti-HIV antibody responses in mice and rabbits.
The researchers have already started testing the candidate vaccine on 24 monkeys.
The institute has patented its technique and granted its rights to a company (Ufovax LLC) that sponsors the tests in progress and will market the vaccine if all the tests prove conclusive.
The details of these works are published in the journal Science Advances (in English)
Another experimental vaccine against HIV-1 was well tolerated and generated good immune responses in 393 healthy adults aged 18 to 50 from Africa, Thailand, and the United States. Tests are also underway to determine whether the immune response produced is sufficient to prevent HIV infection.
In addition, trials of weekly HIV / AIDS treatment with pigs have shown encouraging results.
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