Researchers from various research organizations in the United States have developed a new experimental vaccine that could potentially stimulate the body's immune system enough to stop the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In a series of studies featured in the journals Science and Cell, scientists from the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Rockefeller University, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and other research institutions discovered a way to accelerate the defense system of the body in order to prepare it to block the HIV infection.
The research featured in Science was led by TSRI professors Dennis Burton and David Nemazee and IAVI associate director William Schief, while the study profiled in Cell was headed by Schief, Rockefeller University professor Michel Nussenzweig.
Both studies focused on designing a vaccine that is capable of priming the body to create antibodies that can bind to HIV and prevent its spread.
Development of Experimental Vaccine
Scientists have long used a dead or inactive form of microbe to generate the production of antibodies, but this process could not be applied to HIV research as native proteins of the viral strain are not effective in triggering an appropriate immune response.
The elusive HIV is able to bypass detection by the immune system and can mutate quickly into new strains.
This limitation has caused scientists to theorize that, for a successful AIDS vaccine to work, it requires a series of proteins known as immunogens to help the body produce antibodies that can neutralize HIV. The process involves having the person be exposed to the same immunogen several times.
In the recent studies, the researchers tested the effects of one such immunogen known as eOD-GT8 60mer. This particular protein nanoparticle is created to bind and activate the necessary B cells to fight off HIV infection.
The eOD-GT8 60mer immunogen was developed at Schief's laboratory and it was tested on mice engineered by Nemazee to produce antibodies similar to those of the human body.
The researchers used a process known as B cell sorting to show how an eOD-GT8 60mer immunization was able to trigger the production of antibody precursors that contain traits needed to recognize and block the spread of HIV. This result suggests that the immunogen can potentially be used for the initial stage of immunizations that will target the HIV infection.
Nemazee noted how the eOD-GT8 60mer vaccine worked well in priming the body of the mouse model to fight HIV.
Scientists involved in the Cell study applied the eOD-GT8 60mer immunogen to slightly altered mouse models.
Schief said that the protein was able to trigger an appropriate immune response similar to the first test.
Concurrent Studies
A concurrent research also featured in the journal Science showed how the eOD-GT8 60mer immunogen launched the immune system of rabbit and primate models. The study was led by Weill Cornell Medical College professor John Moore, with input from Burton, Schief and other researchers.
The researchers are now conducting further studies on other immunogens that could produce similar effects as the eOD-GT8 60mer protein.
