Community | September 04, 2009 | 5 comments

Are we closer to an AIDS Vaccine?

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-aids4-2009sep04,0,7870223.story

Image
DeliaTheArtist
"After nearly two decades of futile searching for a vaccine against the AIDS virus, researchers are reporting the tantalizing discovery of antibodies that can prevent the virus from multiplying in the body and producing severe disease.

They do not have a vaccine yet, but they may well have a road map toward the production of one.

A team based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla reports today in the journal Science that they have isolated two so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies that can block the action of many strains of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS.

Crucial to the discovery is the fact that the antibodies target a portion of HIV that researchers had not considered in their search for a vaccine. Moreover, the target is a relatively stable portion of the virus that does not participate in the extensive mutations that have made HIV able to escape from antiviral drugs and previous experimental vaccines.

"This is opening up a whole new area of science," said Dr. Seth F. Berkley, president and chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which funded and coordinated the research.

At least 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, and at least 25 million have died from AIDS, according to the World Health Organization."
  1. groups:
    Community,   Science,   Medicine,   YWR,   2 more
  2. tags:
  3.     
    |

5 comments // Are we closer to an AIDS Vaccine?

  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • I once lived near a primate field station , (they were doing research there on a vaccine for simian aids) and had on opportunity to view the research files . The dismal success rate , somewhere in the teens , as I recall , has haunted me for many years . I have had a lifelong and personal interest in the human immune system . I have one . I am glad for this research . I have , in recent years come to the idea , that we do not understand it completely . Some mechanism is missing in our knowledge . I hope this research leads us to the wisdom we lack .

    • 2 years ago
  • jac1992
    • 0
      jac1992  

    • On this subject, close isn't good enough. Untill we have bothe a cure and worldwide basic knowledge about the disease, can it truly be a good thing

    • 2 years ago
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  

    • um, sorry to be so cold, but hopefully not yet.. The population of human beings will be reaching 7 billion next year. Now this planet has enough resources to feed and shelter every person, but until we get off the monetary system the way it is, and transform it towards a resource based economy, we really should not be trying to cure every disease so soon.. especially one like AIDS, where it is so dominant in places like Africa; the average age group is real young, full of disease, not many resources, and yet they continue to breed excessively... and i am suppose to think that every single human life is worth saving, yet were going tear this planet apart in the process. i know its cold, but i would be willing to sacrifice my life for all the other life on this planet over the expansion of human life that lives so unsustainibly and selfishly. i really felt the need to share that, though i dont expect many to agree..

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  
    • Ajil:

      Well, the thing is you probably wouldn't agree if it was you, your friends and your country in the middle of the AIDS epidemic- would you be willing to sacrifice your life and the lives of your friends, family and countrymen for the planet?

    • 2 years ago
  • StandaboveUnderstand
more from Community:
from the community

top videos