Catching AIDS/HIV Early Slowing the Spread of Disease?

Developing an AIDS vaccine has been a high priority for researchers across the globe for the past few decades. Study after study has been done on vaccines and cures and gene therapies, some successful, but most not. However, a promising new study has shown that vaccines that target the AIDS virus early on have proven more successful in slowing the disease’s spread.

A study out of the Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (OHSU VGTI) has shown evidence that when HIV is targeted by a vaccine in the early stages when infection first occurs and before the virus begins to replicate causing the full-blown infection, the disease does not become as widespread. Scientists on the research team were responsible for devising a vaccine in which a part of the immune system (effector memory T-cells, specifically) was reprogrammed, so to speak, to resist HIV at the infection’s initial location.

Louis Picker, M.D., an associate director at OHSU VGTI and the director of the vaccine program there stated, “HIV appears to be vulnerable when it is first introduced into mucosal surfaces in the body. However, once HIV spreads throughout the entire body, it replicates very rapidly and becomes difficult if not impossible to control. Our approach is to attack during this early period of vulnerability. The approach is similar to that of a homeowner who sprays their house with water before sparks land on the roof. This approach can prevent the roof from catching fire and, in the case of HIV, prevent the spread of the virus.”

The trial was performed on monkeys in order for researchers to find out if their method of reprogramming or “educating” the body’s immune system would be successful. Monkeys are often used as models because their version of SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) is very similar to the human version of HIV. In order to run their tests, they vaccinated several monkeys with CMV (cytomegalovirus) which would let out SIV proteins and cause those effector memory T-cells to be on the lookout for SIV upon infection; once located, the T-cells would attack the invading SIV.

One dozen rhesus macaque monkeys were vaccinated in this way. Once infected with SIV, 4 of those monkeys had formed a protection from SIV. Naturally, the researchers on this project wondered why only one-third of the monkeys responded in this way. This will be one of the questions they need to answer in upcoming trials. In addition, researchers hope to have a larger number of monkeys to study. The full research can be found on the online version of the journal Nature Medicine. Both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases helped fund this research.