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HIV in the crosshairs:
Researchers closer to
HIV vaccine breakthrough
A
lthough modern medicine has made significant
strides in the treatment of HIV, it is still without a
cure. Today, HIV medications help extend a patient’s
lifespan, but often have serious side effects.
New research, however, is in development for therapeutic vaccines that could help HIV patients to maintain strong immune
systems. Researchers at Baylor
University Medical Center at Dallas
and Baylor Institute for Immunology
Research (BIIR) are part of the international research team focusing on
this improved treatment option for
HIV-infected individuals.
“If these therapeutic vaccines work,
they will be a significant advance in
the treatment of HIV,” said Louis
Sloan, M.D., a research investigator
DR. LOUIS SLOAN
at BIIR who specializes in infectious
diseases. “In our initial trial, every patient had a decrease of the
‘viral load’ [amount of virus in the body], compared to their levels before starting standard medications. We have more research
to do before these vaccines move into standard patient care, but
we’re all very excited by the potential that they offer.”
The research team from BIIR collaborated with the Vaccine
Research Institute in Paris, France, and the French government’s
AIDS research agency to conduct this trial. In September 2014,
they published results of their “safety” trial with 19 Dallas HIV
patients, one of the first required steps in new drug development
to determine a drug has no harmful side effects. The trial used
18
16
e a c h pat ient’s ow n w h ite blo o d c e l l s , sp e ci a l ly
treated outside the body, and then re-injected as a patient-specific
vaccine. A future trial is planned that will build on these initial
findings. A new vaccine technology developed in this collaborative program is also advancing to clinical trials, which are slated
to begin at the end of 2016.
“I am excited about the new antibody technologies that we have developed that will directly activate the
immune system against HIV,” said
Gerard Zurawski, Ph.D., co-director of BIIR and lead researcher in
Baylor’s HIV vaccine program.
HIV attacks the body by infecting
T cells in the blood, which are supposed to kick-start the immune system to fight off viruses. The therapeuDR. GERARD ZURAWSKI
tic approaches that the Baylor Dallas
teams are helping to dev