HIV Antibodies Discovered
Study Makes Progress Toward Vaccine
FrontLines - October 2009
A USAID partner, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), recently discovered that some people who are exposed to HIV create antibodies, or naturally occurring
protection, against the virus. The findings are expected to play an important role in designing an eventual vaccine for HIV.
USAID and IAVI signed an agreement in 2006 to hasten development of an AIDS vaccine.
IAVI tested more than 1,800 HIV positive people in several developing countries when the antibodies were discovered
that block or neutralize the virus.
Results of the study, entitled "Protocol G: A Cross Sectional Study to Screen for and Generate Broadly Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies from HIV Infected Individuals," were published in the journal Science in September.
"We are delighted with IAVI’s promising and novel achievements; if there is one thing USAID understands, it’s the importance of setting long range goals," said David Stanton, division chief in USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS. "Translating these findings into an actual vaccine will surely take time and much more work, but IAVI’s [study] provides important insight into what a vaccine might look like so it can effectively instruct the immune system to produce these powerful
antibodies."
The antibody announcement came as researchers in Thailand announced Sept. 24 they had successfully tested a new AIDS vaccine that had reduced infections
by 30 percent. The U.S. Defense Department spent $100 million on the three-year test involving 16,000 Thais—half inoculated with the vaccine and half with a placebo.
Seventy-four people in the placebo group became infected during the study compared with only 51 of those who received the vaccine. The surgeon general of the U.S. Army sponsored the study and released the final results in late September.
USAID has funded the non-profit IAVI since 2001. The Agency’s HIV/AIDS program began in 1986 and has spent more than $7 billion to fight the disease which affects more than 33 million people worldwide.
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Correction: This article should have said that IAVI scientists isolated very specific proteins that neutralize, or block, all major groups of HIV found in blood sampled from HIV-positive study participants. The story also should have said that a $105 million medical trial for an AIDS vaccine was sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in collaboration with the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, the Thai government, Sanofi-Pasteur and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases. This trial included 16,402 Thai volunteers and reduced infections by 31 percent among vaccine recipients.
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