New HIV Vaccine Shows Promise

A new vaccine that holds promise for protecting people against HIV has entered a human trial to assess the vaccine's safety and ability to produce immunity in healthy, uninfected adults. If successful, the study will lead to a larger study of the vaccine's effectiveness in people at high risk for HIV infection.

Earlier studies have shown that the vaccine sharply slowed the reproduction of the AIDS virus in laboratory monkeys who became infected with HIV. Most of the monkeys that were not vaccinated died or developed AIDS. The safety of the vaccine has been tested in small numbers of healthy subjects. The vaccine was developed by Merck & Co. (Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA). The new trial will be the first time that all three components of Merck's HIV vaccine will be tested in humans using a prime boost regimen.

Most vaccines designed to stimulate the production of antibodies against HIV have not worked well because the virus changes itself slightly to evade attack. The new vaccine does not build antibodies but boosts the activity of killer T cells in the immune system to target and kill the cells containing HIV. The trial will enroll 126 people in the 18-month trial. The University of South Florida College of Medicine (Tampa, USA), which is taking part in the trial, has enrolled 10 subjects at the Tampa General Hospital and Research Center.

"Of all the potential vaccines studied over the last 20 years, this is one of the most promising to move forward as a candidate for prevention of HIV,” said Jeffrey Nadler, M.D., professor of medicine and principal investigator for the trial in Tampa.




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