I’ll be careful in reporting this, because journalists have been known to exaggerate advances in the sciences, particularly in the medical field. But a group of scientists in California have isolated two antibodies, known as PG9 and PG16, which in some patients have been able to stop various HIV strains from multiplying and progressing to the severe disease AIDS, reaffirming the belief that an HIV vaccine is possible. From the LA Times:

A team based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla reports today in the journal Science that they have isolated two so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies that can block the action of many strains of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS… the antibodies target a portion of HIV that researchers had not considered in their search for a vaccine. Moreover, the target is a relatively stable portion of the virus that does not participate in the extensive mutations that have made HIV able to escape and antiviral drugs and previous experimental vaccines.

What this means is that scientists may have discovered the antibodies that will help them in the search for an HIV vaccine. Importantly, this vaccine would not stop those who already have HIV from getting AIDS (such medications already exist and, these days, are actually quite effective). Rather, the vaccine would help people not get infected with HIV in the first place.

Considering that, according to the World Health Organization, at least 25 million people have died from AIDS and 33 million are currently infected, this is something that certainly deserves our attention.

Popularity: 1% [?]