An experimental mRNA vaccine against HIV – a technology similar to that of the Covid-19 vaccine – has shown encouraging results when tested on animals (rodents and macaque monkeys), scientists in the United States have announced.
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by Dr. Paolo Lusso and with the participation of the Institute’s director, Anthony Fauci, and Moderna researchers, published their findings in the journal Nature Medicine. that the vaccine is safe and generates the desired immune response at both antibody and cellular level.
Monkeys that received an initial dose of the vaccine and then boosters over the next year had a 79% lower risk of becoming infected with the SHIV virus (the equivalent of HIV in animals) than unvaccinated macaques.
As Fauci noted, “Despite nearly four decades of efforts by the global research community, an effective vaccine to prevent HIV remains an elusive goal. “This new experimental mRNA vaccine combines several features that can overcome the weaknesses of other experimental HIV vaccines and thus is a promising approach.”
The new HIV vaccine works just like the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine. Instead of carrying mRNA instructions for the coronavirus protein, however, it carries coded instructions for creating two key proteins (Env and Gag) of HIV. After vaccination, muscle cells assemble these two proteins into the animal’s body and thus activate the immune response against the virus without the risk of infection or disease, since the complete genetic code of HIV is not introduced into the body.
In rodents, administration of two doses of the vaccine resulted in the formation of neutralizing antibodies against HIV in all animals. In macaques the vaccine was well tolerated and caused only mild and temporary side effects, such as loss of appetite, while by the 58th week all monkeys had developed detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies as well as strong T-cell activation.
After exposure of the animals to SHIV virus after 60 weeks, two of the seven vaccinated macaques were not infected at all, while the rest became infected late (on average after eight weeks) compared with the control group of unvaccinated monkeys (which became infected after three weeks).
The researchers plan to begin the phase 1 test of the vaccine in healthy adult volunteers.
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It works by destroying cells of the immune system, CD4 + T lymphocytes, which play an important role in protecting the body from infections and other diseases.
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