Researchers Progress Toward AIDS Vaccine

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/research/researchers-progress-20090311

Researchers Progress Toward AIDS Vaccine

Gail Ferstandig Arnold and Eddy Arnold may have turned a corner in their search for a vaccine against HIV – the virus responsible for AIDS. In a paper published in the Journal of Virology, the husband and wife duo and their colleagues reported on their research progress.

With the support of the National Institutes of Health, the Arnolds and their team have been able to take a piece of HIV that is involved with helping the virus enter cells, put it on the surface of a common cold virus, and then immunize animals with it. They found that the animals made antibodies that can stop an unusually diverse set of HIV isolates or varieties.

While researchers previously had been able to elicit effective antibodies, they usually only acted against a very limited number of HIV types. With HIV’s known propensity to mutate, antibodies developed against one local strain may not recognize and combat mutant varieties elsewhere. The challenge is to find a broad spectrum vaccine capable of protecting against the HIV varieties.

The Rutgers team identified a part of the AIDS virus that is crucial to its viability – something it needs in order to complete its life cycle – and then targeted this Achilles heel. In this case, the part plays a role in the ability of HIV to enter cells and is common to most HIV.

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