Scrambling For an AIDS Vaccine

Since the dawn of AIDS, researchers and scientists have scrambled to develop a vaccine to help combat the global epidemic. With a recent discovery of the particles within the immune system that fight HIV, that vaccine may now be within reach. Much like any vaccine, this one would serve to protect the worldwide community against the deadly virus that currently has no cure.

Utilizing new technology, researchers were able to perform studies on the blood of close to 2,000 patients who are currently infected with HIV; in doing so, they were allowed to discover two different antibodies (compounds that comprise the immune system) that have shown the ability to fight off the virus. In addition, these researchers were able to identify the specific part of the virus that those recently discovered antibodies targeted for their attack. The head of the study, Dennis Burton, from The Scripps Research Institute states, “So now we may have a better chance of designing a vaccine that will elicit such broadly neutralizing antibodies, which we think are key to successful vaccine development.“ Wayne Koff who works with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) adds, “The findings themselves are an exciting advance toward the goal of an effective AIDS vaccine

AIDS first reared its head in the 1980s. Since then approximately 25 million people have succumbed to the virus. According to estimates from the World Health Organization, worldwide there are 33 million people who are infected with the virus. No cure has yet been discovered although antiretroviral drugs for those patients infected with the virus have been able to control the disease.

One vital reason that no vaccine has been developed is that HIV is a mutating virus. There are so many various versions of the virus that they affect a person’s immune system differently across the board. The virus attacks an infected person’s immune system, the very system responsible for protecting one’s body. Additionally, research has indicated that if a virus is able to bypass the immune system (as the AIDS virus does), it infects that person for life.

Dr. Seth Berkley, the director of IAVI, has said that these new discoveries does not automatically mean that a vaccine will be developed immediately; however, it gives researchers and scientists hope because there are now better ways to create a vaccine. Berkley adds that of those patients whose blood was screened, about 10% of them had powerful antibodies that helped fight the virus. He states, “We have people with even more potent serum out there. We will probably see more.” Berkley states that the goal is to produce a vaccine that when administered to the public would cause a person’s antibodies to protect their immune system by never letting the virus infect it.