HIV 'fingerprint' tool could greatly assist vaccine development according to : Medical News Today

Challenge for HIV vaccine developersAIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection - it can take 2 to 15 years to reach, depending on the individual. Two of the major challenges facing HIV vaccine developers are that the virus is good at hiding from the immune system, and that it keeps changing. Once it enters a person's body, HIV weakens the immune system. An important requirement is the ability to distinguish between high-mannose glycans and complex-type glycans on the glycoprotein envelope. It allows scientists to quickly "fingerprint" the virus and tell if their vaccine development is on the right track.




In a recent study, the team demonstrated that flipping the switch allows weakened HIV to replicate at a level likely to generate immunity in a host. By engineering an on/off switch into a weakened form of HIV, University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers have enhanced the safety and effectiveness of a potential vaccine for the virus that has killed approximately 35 million people during the past 35 years. Other research teams have already managed to generate HIV immunity in organisms, with one vaccine protecting 95 percent of rhesus monkeys against the virus. Though the researchers have so far evaluated their vaccine only in the petri dish, they hope to begin small-animal trials in the next year. The researchers then used their approach to switch off this replication at will, a feat that the team said could make its vaccine candidate among the safest yet reported.

Engineered on-off switch brings HIV vaccine one step closer

In 2014, the team from the University of Nebraska genetically engineered a version of HIV that requires a synthetic amino acid not found in the body to replicate. March 29 (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of Nebraska created an on/off switch in a weakened form of HIV to increase its safety for use in a potential vaccine. Each codon instructs transfer-RNA to addit's corresponding amino acid to a chain that becomes a protein and allows for viral replication. There are currently no vaccines for HIV, a virus that has claimed the lives of approximately 35 million people during the past 35 years. Earlier studies have been able to generate HIV immunity in organisms by deleting HIV genes to limit replication, with one vaccine protecting 95 percent of rhesus monkeys from the virus.


collected by :Lucy William
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