Potent HIV Antibodies Spark Vaccine Hopes

摘要

If HIV/AIDS researchers had a wish list, at the very top would sit a vaccine that could teach the body to make potent antibodies against the many strains of the virus. Despite 25 years of effort, no such vaccine is in sight, but now they are a step closer. A large team of researchers has identified the most powerful, broad-acting antibodies yet against multiple strains of the virus.rnFinding good antibodies is a far cry from developing a vaccine that prods the immune system to produce them. But "broadly neutralizing antibodies" (bNAbs) are rare: Researchers have identified only a half-dozen to date. Now an international group funded mainly by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has discovered two new ones that have an unusual potency. "This has actually made me quite optimistic-for once," says Dennis Burton, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, who led the research effort.