Completed the first clinical trial for HIV vaccine
During phase, trial of the vaccine was successful in 90% of volunteers with AIDS, using the MVA-B virus containing HIV genes 4. Spanish researchers have completed the first clinical trial of a new vaccine against HIV. This vaccine offers great hope to eradicate this scourge forever. The team led by Dr. Mariano Esteban, a researcher at the National Center for Biotechnology in Madrid, this method has worked since 1999.
They used an attenuated virus called MVA-B, a variant of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), have been used to eradicate smallpox. Modified Vaccinia Ankara the form also the basis of other vaccines. The letter B refers to HIV-B, the most common subtype of HIV in Europe. The group has included in the genetic sequence Esteban MVA four HIV genes: Gag, Pol, Nef and Env. In 2008, they had already tested the new vaccine on monkeys and mice. It is a complete success for HIV vaccine.
The first test results on human patients have been published in the journal Vaccine and the Journal of Virology. In the experiment, the researchers injected the vaccine in 24 of 30 healthy volunteers. Six volunteers were treated with placebo, and these showed no effect. But 90% of subjects treated with the vaccine developed a strong immune response against HIV. 85% maintained the immunological reaction for a full year, very good news.
According to data collected, no patients there was some side effect, resulting in one of the purposes of experimentation. Despite the success, Mariano Esteban is cautious: “The treatment has only been tested on 30 volunteers, and while the vaccine in most cases causes a strong response, it is still too early to tell if the defense can be effective against a real their HIV infection“.
Now the group will begin testing a new phase clinical trial of injecting the vaccine in HIV-infected patients. The objective of this trial is to test the therapeutic effect of the vaccine in these patients.
According to Esteban: “In principle, the immunological profile of MVA-B meets the requirements for a good vaccine against HIV, such as the formation of antibodies and the activation of key cells for defense against the virus”.
Unfortunately, it is far from the vaccine market: researchers need to test it in phase II and III, the current injecting large-scale HIV vaccine in volunteers. It is hoped that one day this vaccine is capable of nailing HIV.
