Antibodies May Lead to New Vaccine to Fight HIV

Boston (DbTechNo) - Researchers say they have uncovered a method which could one day lead to the development of an HIV vaccine.

They say they have been able to identify immune system particles which attack the HIV virus, which could be used to make an HIV vaccine.

Currently there is no drug to cure people of the HIV virus, but there are drugs on the market to suppress it.

For their research, a team from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, analyzed the blood of up to 1800 people infected with the HIV virus, and identified 2 never seen before immune system compounds.

They were also able to discover a new part of the virus that the antibodies attack, a fact which has raised the likelyhood of one day a drug being made from those antibodies to beat back the disease.

“So now we may have a better chance of designing a vaccine that will elicit such broadly neutralizing antibodies, which we think are key to successful vaccine development,” said Dennis Burton, lead researcher.