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One step further towards an HIV vaccine: and this one performed as expected
Gus Cairns, 2015-07-14 07:10:00
A recent experimental HIV vaccine protected 50% of a group of twelve rhesus monkeys from infection by Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV). Furthermore it did so by providing so-called ‘sterilising immunity’, meaning that it completely prevented infection in these monkeys rather than offering the more limited goal of ‘functional immunity’, where infection still happens but is harmless.
In addition, two monkeys that were infected did appear to develop functional immunity: although experiments showed their cells still harboured HIV DNA, they became ‘elite controllers’, maintaining an undetectable viral load in blood. Taken together, then, this vaccine provided significant protection against SIV to two-thirds of the monkeys vaccinated.
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