HIV vaccines

T cell-based HIV vaccine candidate demonstrates positive results

harminka — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:42:04 -0600

The question of whether or not to continue to pursue the development of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccines has been a source of controversy following last year's widely publicized failure of the field's most promising candidate, a vaccine developed by Merck known as V520.

NIAID announces revised priorities for HIV vaccine research

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:18:30 -0500

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is reshaping its research enterprise to broaden HIV vaccine discovery activities.

Unique HIV vaccine formula elicits strong immune responses

harminka — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:49:31 -0500

Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. (ABL) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) report that their unique HIV vaccine formulation was effective in eliciting strong and balanced immune responses in healthy human volunteers. The findings are published in the journal Vaccine (“Cross-subtype antibody and cellular immune responses induced by a polyvalent DNA prime–protein boost HIV-1 vaccine in healthy human volunteers,” Vaccine online, May 22, 2008.

Scientists devise approach that stops HIV at earliest stage of infection

harminka — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:15:00 -0600

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a new two-punch strategy against HIV and they have already successfully tested aspects of it in the laboratory.

New insights into vaccination for HIV

harminka — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:43:30 -0600

A group of Australian researchers at the Universities of Melbourne and New South Wales have developed new tools and paradigms to understand immune evasion from HIV. The study, published Friday, January 25 in PLoS Pathogens, shows that both prior vaccination and timing influence the rates of immune escape, providing further insight into the effectiveness of T cell immunity to HIV.

Researchers find cell protein that literally nips HIV in bud

harminka — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:32:49 -0600

UCLA researchers have found that a key protein in the body's dendritic cells can stop the virus that causes AIDS from "budding" — part of the virus' life cycle that is crucial to its ability to replicate and infect other cells.

Modeling pathogen responses

harminka — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:29:08 -0500

The search for a vaccination against HIV has been in progress since 1984, with very little success. Traditional methods used for identifying potential cellular targets can be very costly and time-consuming. The key to creating a vaccination lies in knowing which parts of the pathogen to target with which antibodies.

Scientists shed new light on how antibodies fight HIV

harminka — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:38:25 -0500

By furthering scientists’ understanding of the molecular mechanisms that separate the minority of successful HIV antibodies from the majority of ineffective antibodies, the work may have implications for future attempts to design an HIV vaccine.

New target for HIV/AIDS drugs, vaccines discovered

harminka — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:37:20 -0500

Researchers from Rome, Italy, describe a finding in the August 2007 print issue of The FASEB Journal that could lead to new drugs to fight the HIV/AIDS virus, as well as new vaccines to prevent infection. It has been known that HIV proteins disable the antibody-forming part of the immune system (the “homeland defense” or acquired immune system).

Gene variants could hold key for HIV vaccine: study

Dinka — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:26:51 -0500

Three gene variants in the DNA of 486 AIDS patients appear to play a role in containing and slowing HIV, an international research team says.

Infectious disease study opens new horizons for HIV treatment

harminka — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:29:28 -0500

The first genome-wide association study of an infectious disease, conducted by an international group of researchers through the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), has yielded a new understanding of why some people can suppress virus levels following HIV infection.

Genomic analysis uncovers new targets for HIV vaccine

harminka — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:45:47 -0500

An international team of researchers has identified three gene variants in the DNA of 486 people infected with HIV that appear to have helped some of the patients fight off the virus and delay the onset of full-blown AIDS.