Vaccines - HIV

There are two disease on which a lot of vaccine research is being done - HIV and Alzheimer's disease. This entry will look at the former.

HIV/AIDS

A US-based group from the Baylor Research Institute has patented a vaccine¹ that uses a human antibody to which a small piece of viral protein is attached. In particular, they've produced two variants of this vaccine using two different viral proteins. The combination of antibody and antigen will stimulate the body to produce antibodies aimed at the HI virus.

Another group has done research on the usage of a lentiviral vector as an HIV vaccine.² The lentiviral vector is transferred into cells in the body and produces non-harmful proteins from the HI virus. The human body recognises these proteins as foreign and produces antibodies against the virus.

At the 16th International Symposium on HIV and Emerging Infectious Diseases in France the development of a therapeutic AIDS vaccine was presented.³ This vaccine, V-1 Immunitor, is an oral pill prepared from HI viral proteins (antigens) that have been heat-inactivated. HIV-positive patients who took these oral preparations showed an increase in white blood cells, decreased viral load, increased body weight, and extended survival. These results, obtained in Russia, reflected previous results obtained in Thailand.


¹ (WO/2010/009346) HIV VACCINE BASED ON TARGETING MAXIMIZED GAG AND NEF TO DENDRITIC CELLS
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² Lemiale F et al. An HIV-based lentiviral vector as HIV vaccine candidate: Immunogenic characterization. Vaccine 28: 1952-1961 (2010)
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³ Bourinbaiar A et al. Pilot trial of oral therapeutic HIV vaccine, V-1 Immunitor, on HIV and HIV/HCV patients in Russia. Retrovirology 7 (Suppl 1): 30. (2010)
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