Category: Vaccines
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On March 29th, PLoS Pathogens published a paper reporting that women superinfected with two HIV variants are more likely to generate antibody responses capable of neutralizing a broad array of viral strains (known as broadly neutralizing antibodies or bNAbs). The work was conducted by the laboratory of Julie Overbaugh at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research…
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At the recent CROI in Seattle, antibody expert Dennis Burton compared HIV’s envelope structure to an assemblage of Tootsie Pops. In this analogy, the parts of HIV’s envelope that are susceptible to neutralizing antibodies are represented by the chocolate contained inside the Tootsie Pop, and the carbohydrate molecules that act as decoys (by inducing ineffective non-neutralizing…
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Following on from the recent post about the promise and potential pitfalls of adenovirus-based vaccine vectors, an open access paper published on Tuesday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases reports data that appear to fall firmly on the promise side of the balance sheet. Researchers from the laboratory of Adrian Hill at the University of…
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A bevy of recently published papers address the use of adenoviruses as vaccine vectors, illuminating both the promise of the approach and some previously unappreciated pitfalls. For the uninitiated, adenoviruses are a family of airborne viruses that are common in nature, causing severe colds. Family members are scientifically categorized into different serotypes based on the…
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Following on from the recent post about the importance of virus-specific CD4 T cells in controlling SIV, another new paper adds to the evidence that they also play an important role in HIV infection. Conducted by the laboratory of Hendrik Streeck at the Ragon Institute in collaboration with David Heckerman at Microsoft, the study "represents…
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The journal Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives is offering several free review articles on HIV research, see abstracts and links below. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a007252 Vaccine Design for CD8 T Lymphocyte Responses Richard A. Koup and Daniel C. Douek Immunology Laboratory, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892…
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One of the studies presented at the recent AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference has now been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. It addresses a longstanding uncertainty in HIV research regarding the role of virus-specific CD4 T cells in controlling viral replication. On the one hand, basic immunology research conducted over the last two decades…
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This past Wednesday, September 28, the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) issued a press release about the results of a phase I HIV vaccine trial involving 30 uninfected volunteers. The release refers to two recently published papers, one made available online by the journal Vaccine on September 9, the…
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The abstract book from the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference, which took place last week in Bangkok, is now available free online via the journal AIDS Research & Human Retroviruses. Appended below is a highly subjective selection of highlights, including new data on the role of CD4 T cell responses in control of HIV, an intriguing study…
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On Tuesday at the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference in Bangkok, Barton Haynes described the initial results of a mammoth effort to uncover immune correlates of protection in the RV144 vaccine trial (the presentation is available online via the conference website). As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009, the trial demonstrated a very…