New HIV vaccine test works on monkeys, study finds



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RIO – Researchers at Scripps Research (USA) demonstrated this week that an HIV vaccine test could be effective in non-human primates.

The new study shows that rhesus monkeys can be stimulated to produce neutralizing antibodies against an HIV strain resembling the most resistant virus form that most commonly infects humans, known as the Tier 2 virus.

The survey also provides the first estimate of the levels of neutralizing antibodies needed for protection against HIV-induced immunization.

– We found that immunizing antibodies induced by vaccination can protect animals against viruses that are very similar to HIV in the real world – says Dennis Burton, head of Scripps' Department of Immunology and Microbiology Scientific Director of the AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Burton points out, however, that the opportunity to develop clinical trials on humans and to develop an HIV vaccine is still far away.

The purpose of this study is to identify the rare and vulnerable areas of the HIV virus and to teach the immune system to produce antibodies to attack these regions.

Studies by Scripps Research Scientists have shown that the body needs to produce neutralizing antibodies that bind to the virus. To corroborate this idea, scientists discovered that they could protect animal models of HIV by injecting neutralizing antibodies produced in the laboratory.

The team tested the vaccine on two groups of rhesus monkeys. An earlier study using the same vaccine had shown that naturally immunized monkeys developed varying vaccination rates. Non-immune primates have also been studied.

Primates were then exposed to a form of the virus called SHIV, an artificial version of HIV with similar characteristics.

This particular strain of the virus is known as the Tier 2 virus because it has proved difficult to neutralize as well as the circulating forms of HIV in the human population.

The researchers found that vaccination was effective in primates that produced sufficient levels of neutralizing antibodies. Now the question is how to extend this effectiveness to all animals and then promote a vaccine project for the human test.

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