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Spanish scientists successfully test HIV vaccine
Last reviewed: 20.11.2021
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The HIV vaccine, developed by Spanish scientists from Madrid and Barcelona, can translate HIV into a chronic disease, such as herpes, according to the Journal of Virology.
Scientists have published the results of the first phase of clinical trials of the vaccine MVA-B against the immunodeficiency virus. The study involved 30 people, 24 of whom received 3 doses of the experimental vaccine (at the beginning of the study, 4 weeks and 16 weeks). Six participants received a placebo. The results of the studies were checked at week 48 of the experiment.
The presence of antibodies to HIV was found in 72.7% of participants. In general, 92.3% of patients who received the vaccine developed immunity to HIV, and in 84.6% of them it persisted for 1 year.
The vaccine MVA-B against HIV is based on modified variola virus. The DNA of this virus includes the genes of the human immunodeficiency virus Gag, Pol, Nef and Env, which are incapable of self-reproduction and therefore are safe for humans. The mechanism of action of the vaccine is to integrate HIV genes into the genome, triggering the production of T and B lymphocytes. B-lymphocytes, in turn, stimulate the production of antibodies that attack HIV, and T-lymphocytes destroy already infected cells.
Initially, the effectiveness of the vaccine against HIV was proven in 2008, as a result of studies in mice and macaques.
The vaccine MVA-B does not completely destroy the human immunodeficiency virus, but it allows you to keep it under control. In case the virus enters the human body, the immune system in time identifies the affected cells and inactivates HIV.
If the vaccine successfully passes the 2nd and 3rd phases of clinical trials, then in the near future HIV will not be more terrible than herpes.
As previously reported, Professor Ping Wang from the University of Southern California (USA) and colleagues created a virus that traces HIV-infected cells.
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