| © News1 Designer Sua Choi |
An HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) vaccine being studied in the United States showed close to 100% effectiveness in early clinical trials. The research team explained that if the vaccine succeeds in commercialisation, it could be the first successful vaccine in 40 years of HIV research.
According to the medical community on the 5th, research teams such as the US Scriptural Institute, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the US Army Hospital at Walter Reed said that vaccination can induce precursors of antibodies that neutralize HIV in the body roughly. , and about 97% in early clinical trials showed an immune response of
The results of the study were published in the international journal Science on the 2nd. According to the research team, it is suggested that the HIV vaccine candidate ‘eOD-GT8 60me’ can elicit an immune response against HIV when vaccinated twice with an interval of 8 weeks.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. An HIV vaccine is a drug that prevents or treats HIV infection by stimulating an immune response in the body. Like the COVID-19 virus, HIV can continue to mutate and evade the immune response, making it difficult to develop a cure or vaccine.
In the phase 1 clinical trial of 48 participants between the ages of 18 and 50, eOD-GT8 60me was given to 35 out of 36 patients, and the production of B cells, the precursors of HIV-neutralizing antibodies, was widely stimulated. level.
First, 18 participants in the eOD-GT8 60me administration group received 20 micrograms (μg, 1/1 millionth of a gram) of vaccine, and then 8 weeks later, the same dose of vaccine plus an immune booster was given. The other 18 did the same with the 100 μg dose.
Twelve participants as a control group received saline instead of eOD-GT8 60me. As an immune booster, ‘AS01B’ was used by GlaxomisKline (GSK), an international pharmaceutical company. After the clinical trial, there were mild or moderate side effects such as pain at the injection site and headache, but no serious side effects were reported. Most adverse reactions resolved within 1-2 days.
“Stimulating broadly neutralizing antibodies against pathogens with high antigenic diversity, such as HIV, influenza, hepatitis C virus or the betacoronavirus family, is a major challenge in vaccine design,” said the research team. It could be one possible strategy to tackle this problem,” he said.
It is explained that embryonic stage cells can be targeted and then differentiated into various HIV antibodies to target different sites of HIV.
“As HIV replicates, only a few parts of the spike protein on its surface remain relatively the same. Therefore, we are trying to derive specific antibodies with very specific properties that can bind to the exact site,” he explained.
It will take some time for the development of eOD-GT8 60me to start phase 2 clinical trials. According to the research team, this clinical trial is still in its infancy, and it is not clear whether it can lead to commercialization. If successful, it was expected to be applied to the development of a pan-flu vaccine or a pan-coronavirus vaccine.
“Even if this method only helps HIV, it would be huge, but we are hopeful that it will help beyond HIV,” the team said.
In addition to the research team, the American bio company Moderna is also developing an HIV vaccine with a similar mechanism based on mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid). Like the Corona 19 vaccine, when mRNA is injected into cells, it creates a protein that will act as an HIV antigen to trigger an immune response.
Moderna is currently conducting phase 1 clinical trials for its HIV vaccine candidate ‘mRNA-1644’ in Rwanda and South Africa with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
jjsung@newyddion1.kr
