Texas University working on HIV vaccine

[sajiv]

Texas University working on HIV vaccine

HYDERABAD: There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for those HIV-infected with virus causing AIDS.

A research team of the University of Texas is close to finding a "very good candidate" for developing a vaccine to stop the spread of the infection by stimulating cells to generate antibodies. "The time has come for translation of basic science to clinic," Sudhir Paul, director of the university's Clinical Immunology Research Centre, who heads the team, said.

The team's approach was innovative; it deviates from the rest of the field. The emphasis was on prevention through a region in the virus that is "quite constant" and useful for binding it to the cell. The team focused research on the covalent approach, rather than existing vaccines which are non-covalent in nature, to break the tolerance of the virus.

The method was adopted to see that the covalent vaccine, containing chemical extract, not only binds with the cell, but also ensures generation of more antibodies to prevent the spread of the virus. The approach was necessitated as the virus mutates rapidly and coupled with this was the immunity to the highly active retroviral therapies being used.

"Experiments have shown that we can break the tolerance and induce the cells to produce more antibodies that are broadly reactive to diverse strains so that the infection by all strains of the virus could be stopped," he told The Hindu. The process involves development of abzymes (from antibody and enzyme) which are monoclonal antibodies with catalytic activity for permanently breaking thousands of virus molecules, unlike the regular antibody that can be targeted at a single molecule.

As the experiments were met with success, efforts were on to take the candidate for testing in human beings, preferably on the infected and those resistant to drugs. "Development of covalent vaccine is a completely new approach and the process of developing the vaccine should not take more than a year, provided we have enough money and community support."

He admitted that there would be lot of resistance from scientists, but it was because science looks for proof.

[dhoni]

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