Tests of unique HIV vaccine are underway

HIV is still one of the most dangerous viruses in the human history. According to ZME Science, the virus infected 36.7 million people, including 1.8 million children in 2015. But scientists do not sit idle. For instance, West University has presented the first preventive vaccine SAV001 against HIV that kills the virus. To date, tests were performed in 33 volunteers. These tests have shown that the vaccine has no serious side effects. Now the scientists are going to initiate the second phase of clinical trials.

The vaccine will be tested in a large group of people without HIV, in order to understand the vaccine efficacy regarding antibody response against HIV. The results will be presented next autumn. The vaccine works by exposing the body to the effect of killed virus. This method worked well against a number of dangerous diseases, such as polio, influenza and hepatitis A. But it is hard to inactivate HIV because the virus develops too fast and avoids all the safety systems of the body.

To solve this problem, the scientists have changed some HIV genes on the genetic material obtained from honeybees. Thus the virus has become safe for human. The first phase of tests has shown that the vaccine stimulated the neutralizing antibodies of wide spectrum of action. That is, these antibodies can neutralize different subtypes of HIV.

Source: MEDdaily