Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
An experimental vaccine capable of stimulating the immune system so that it can block an HIV infection has been shown to be effective in mice, and human trials may not be all that far off, a team of researchers from Harvard, MIT, and The Scripps Research Institute report.
Studies published Thursday in the journals Cell and Science show that the new vaccine demonstrates a protein similar to HIV (an immunogen known as eOD-GT8 60mer that was designed to bind and activate the B cells needed to fight HIV) was able to produce antibodies in mouse models that are similar to those of humans.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the new studies describe a multi-pronged approach to a vaccine against the AIDS-causing virus, with each prong representing one part of the process. The next step is combining these approaches into a single vaccine suitable for humans. The researchers said that testing may begin in about two years.
Next step: human trials
In one of the newly published studies, the researchers found that they could activate the antibody system using the engineered eOD-GT8 60mer molecule, which mimics a vulnerable region of the virus and produces early versions of broadly-neutralizing antibodies, the newspaper explained.
This will allow the immune system to be exposed to substances that mimic some aspects of HIV, allowing them to produce mature versions of helpful antibodies. The Cell study demonstrated how a different type of engineered molecule could complete the final stage of this maturation process, while a third paper showed how this molecule functioned in rabbit vaccinations.
The next step, the researchers explained in a statement, will be to investigate how other types of immunogens could work alongside eOD-GT8 60mer. The mouse models developed during this research will be essential for testing other engineered proteins, for designing antibodies as well as for analyzing the results of their research, they added.
TSRI Professor David Nemazee told the Union-Tribune that the vaccine “works much better than we expected.” Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, added that the results were “encouraging” and that the next step was “to see if we can duplicate that in a very gradual, safe, gingerly way in humans in a Phase 1 trial.”
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