Health & Medicine
Scientists Reformulate HIV Vaccine, Major Trial In South Africa Strikes Hope
Angela Betsaida Laguipo
First Posted: Nov 28, 2016 02:07 AM EST
After decades of battling the growing number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections across the globe, a new major HIV vaccine trial is set to start in South Africa. This historic trial promises hope for millions of people to be protected from the still incurable disease.
The clinical trial, dubbed as HVTN 702, is the largest and most advanced HIV vaccine trial to be carried out in South Africa.
Despite the fact that fewer people are now dying from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the complication linked to HIV infection, since millions of people are now under drug treatment to suppress the virus, the efforts to prevent the spread of the virus is still not successful. In fact, the infection rate across the globe has continued to increase over the past years, The Guardian reports.
Past Trials Failed
There were efforts to create HIV vaccines in the past, and seven years ago, a clinical trial was conducted in Thailand. Unfortunately, a vaccine known as RV144 was tested on more than 16,000 people in Thailand and they turned up a previously unknown vulnerability in the resilient pathogen, The Washington Post noted.
The vaccine was only 31 percent effective and wore off over time. However, the study's results created an opportunity for scientists to reformulate the vaccine and bring it back for another clinical trial in South Africa, where some 7 million people are living with the virus.
The trial is set to begin by enroling the first 5,400 individuals aged 18 to 35 years old.
"If deployed alongside our current armory of proven HIV prevention tools, a safe and effective vaccine could be the final nail in the coffin for HIV," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said in a press release by the National Institutes of Health.
"Even a moderately effective vaccine would significantly decrease the burden of HIV disease over time in countries and populations with high rates of HIV infection, such as South Africa," he added.
The Modified Vaccine
The HVTN 702 vaccine is a combination of two experimental vaccines, ALVAC-HIV and a two-component gp120 protein sub-unit vaccine. The good news is, the vaccine does not contain HIV. Thus, it does not pose any danger of HIV infection to the participants of the trial.
The scientists have modified a new vaccine from ALVAC-HIV, which is supplied by Sanofi Pasteur, and the protein vaccine, supplied by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), from the versions used in the previous RV144 trial.
The vaccine was modified to be specific to HIV sub-type C, the predominant sub-type found in South Africa. Moreover, the protein vaccine is combined with MF59, a different adjuvant than the one used in RV144, in the hope of creating a more robust and potent immune response against the virus. The scientists also hope that they could prolong the efficacy of the vaccine than the time period observed in the trial in Thailand.
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TagsHIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, AIDS, HIV/AIDS, HVTN 702, RV144, Vaccine, vaccine for HIV, HIV vaccine, Clinical trial, South Africa, RV144 trial, ALVAC-HIV ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Nov 28, 2016 02:07 AM EST
After decades of battling the growing number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections across the globe, a new major HIV vaccine trial is set to start in South Africa. This historic trial promises hope for millions of people to be protected from the still incurable disease.
The clinical trial, dubbed as HVTN 702, is the largest and most advanced HIV vaccine trial to be carried out in South Africa.
Despite the fact that fewer people are now dying from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the complication linked to HIV infection, since millions of people are now under drug treatment to suppress the virus, the efforts to prevent the spread of the virus is still not successful. In fact, the infection rate across the globe has continued to increase over the past years, The Guardian reports.
Past Trials Failed
There were efforts to create HIV vaccines in the past, and seven years ago, a clinical trial was conducted in Thailand. Unfortunately, a vaccine known as RV144 was tested on more than 16,000 people in Thailand and they turned up a previously unknown vulnerability in the resilient pathogen, The Washington Post noted.
The vaccine was only 31 percent effective and wore off over time. However, the study's results created an opportunity for scientists to reformulate the vaccine and bring it back for another clinical trial in South Africa, where some 7 million people are living with the virus.
The trial is set to begin by enroling the first 5,400 individuals aged 18 to 35 years old.
"If deployed alongside our current armory of proven HIV prevention tools, a safe and effective vaccine could be the final nail in the coffin for HIV," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said in a press release by the National Institutes of Health.
"Even a moderately effective vaccine would significantly decrease the burden of HIV disease over time in countries and populations with high rates of HIV infection, such as South Africa," he added.
The Modified Vaccine
The HVTN 702 vaccine is a combination of two experimental vaccines, ALVAC-HIV and a two-component gp120 protein sub-unit vaccine. The good news is, the vaccine does not contain HIV. Thus, it does not pose any danger of HIV infection to the participants of the trial.
The scientists have modified a new vaccine from ALVAC-HIV, which is supplied by Sanofi Pasteur, and the protein vaccine, supplied by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), from the versions used in the previous RV144 trial.
The vaccine was modified to be specific to HIV sub-type C, the predominant sub-type found in South Africa. Moreover, the protein vaccine is combined with MF59, a different adjuvant than the one used in RV144, in the hope of creating a more robust and potent immune response against the virus. The scientists also hope that they could prolong the efficacy of the vaccine than the time period observed in the trial in Thailand.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone