New HIV vaccine induces immune responses in humans, monkeys: study – Xinhua

WASHINGTON, July 7 (Xinhua) – A new study published Friday in the Lancet showed that an experimental preventive regimen of HIV-1 vaccine was well tolerated and produced comparable and robust immune responses against HIV in healthy adults and rhesus According to the study, the candidate vaccine provided a 67% protection against HIV-like virus infection in monkeys.

Based on the results of Phase 1 and Phase 2a clinical trials involving nearly 400 healthy subjects. adults in Rwanda, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and the United States, a phase 2b trial has been initiated in southern Africa to determine the safety and efficacy of the HIV-1 vaccine. 1 in 2,600 women exposed to HIV

. This is one of five experimental designs of HIV-1 vaccines that have progressed toward efficacy trials in humans over the 35 years of the global HIV / AIDS epidemic. AIDS.

Specific regions of the world. The experimental designs tested in this study are based on "mosaic" vaccines that take pieces of different HIV viruses and combine them to trigger immune responses against a wide variety of HIV strains

"This study demonstrates that the Ad26 mosaic premium, Ad26 plus gp140 boost vaccine candidate HIV induces robust immune responses in humans and monkeys with comparable magnitude, kinetics, phenotype and durability, "said Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Research in Virology and Vaccines at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which led the study

Nearly 37 million people worldwide are living with HIV / AIDS, with about 1.8 million new cases each year. A safe and effective preventive vaccine is urgently needed to stem the HIV pandemic.

In the 35 years of the HIV epidemic, only four HIV vaccine concepts have been tested in humans. in Thailand, which lowered the rate of human infection by 31%, but the effect was deemed too low to pass the vaccine to a common use.

The vaccine candidate Ad26 / Ad26 plus gp140 induces the largest immune responses in humans. improved protection in monkeys, providing complete protection against SHIV infections, an HIV-like virus that infects monkeys, in two-thirds of vaccinated animals.

However, the researchers said that these results should be interpreted with caution. The challenges in developing an HIV vaccine are unprecedented, and the ability to induce specific immune responses to HIV does not necessarily indicate that a vaccine will protect humans from HIV. The authors also noted that the relevance of vaccine protection in rhesus monkeys to clinical efficacy in humans remains unclear, and there was no definitive immunological measure that was known to predict protection against HIV-1 in humans.