New vaccine strategy may control HIV in monkeys

Researchers have designed a new revolutionary vaccine strategy that can prevent HIV infection and the development of AIDS, especially in monkeys.

The new vaccine strategy is opposed to conventional methods and boosts the parts of the immune system that attacks the viral genes, least active during the infection, thus helping the immune system time to build a more efficient defense, which may then defeat the remaining of the virus, the researchers said.

"We're presenting an entirely new vaccine solution. Our vaccine supports the work of the immune system in developing an effective combating mechanism against the virus, rather than immediately combating the toughest parts of the virus," said lead researcher Peter Holst, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

"In combination with other vaccines, this approach can prove to have a highly efficient effect," Holst added.

The study, published in the journal EbioMedicine, showed that the method can control the SIV virus infection (simian immunodefiency virus) in monkeys, a finding that can pave way towards developing a vaccine against HIV in humans, the researchers said.

"The next phase of our work is to build virus control in all infected animals and later in humans. We're convinced that it's possible to identify further improvements in our experiments and thus achieve a well-functioning vaccine, initially against HIV, but also against other chronic infections," Holst noted.

--IANS

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