HIV and hepatitis C vaccines come closer to reality

Researchers have claimed to have made a breakthrough in HIV and hepatitis C.

Professor Eric Gowans from the University's Discipline of Surgery, based at the Basil Hetzel Institute at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, has submitted a patent application for what he describes as a relatively simple but effective technique to stimulate the body's immune system response, thereby helping to deliver the vaccine.

While pre-clinical research into this vaccination technique is still underway, he's now searching for a commercial partner to help take it to the next stage.

Professor Gowans' work has focused on utilizing the so-called "accessory" or "messenger" cells in the immune system, called dendritic cells, to activate an immune response. These are a type of white blood cell that play a key role during infection and vaccination.

Gowans said that in their approach they are not targeting the dendritic cells directly - instead, they've found an indirect way of getting them to do what they want.

He and his team have achieved this by including a protein that causes a small amount of cell death at the point of vaccination.

Using a micro-needle device provided by United States company FluGen Inc., the researchers can puncture the skin to a depth of 1.5mm, delivering the vaccination directly into the skin. "We chose the skin instead of the muscle tissue, which is more common for DNA vaccines, because the skin has a high concentration of dendritic cells," Professor Gowans says.

The study has been published in the journal Immunology and Cell Biology.