Research targets virus in early stages
A new approach to targeting HIV appears to have cleared the virus from one-third of primates who were vaccinated in the early stages of infection.
Scientists at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) believe that a vaccination method which targets HIV in its early stages - before it replicates and spreads throughout the body - may be able to limit its progress.
"HIV appears to be vulnerable when it is first introduced into mucosal surfaces in the body,” explained Louis Picker, associate director of the OHSU's Vaccine Gene Therapy Institute.
"However, once HIV spreads throughout the entire body, it replicates very rapidly and becomes difficult if not impossible to control. "
Their method involves programming a part of the body's immune system to look for HIV at the site of infection.
In order to determine whether this was possible, 12 rhesus macaque monkeys at the Oregon Natural Primate Research Centre were vaccinated using this method.
When they were later infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) - the primate equivalent of HIV, one-third were protected.
Joanne Webster, a professor of parasitic diseases at the RVC, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
