AIDS Vaccine Conference Underway in Bangkok

AIDS Vaccine 2011, an international conference sponsored by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, is taking place this week in Bangkok, Thailand. The annual AIDS vaccine meeting is the major dedicated venue for research related to immune response against HIV and its translational into effective preventive vaccine candidates.

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HIV Vaccine Development Remains Challenging, but Holds Promise

The "holy grail" of HIV research -- a protective vaccine -- has eluded scientists for the past 3 decades. But various approaches for inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies against the virus have made progress.

"We are optimistic that the tools of modern science will enable us to develop HIV vaccines that induce effective immune responses that do better than natural immunity and prevent HIV infection," Margaret Johnston and Anthony Fauci from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases write in the September 8, 2011, New England Journal of Medicine.

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Gene Therapy Protects Cat Cells against Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

Using a genome modification technique that inserts a macaque monkey restriction factor plus a fluorescent tracer into cat cells, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, were able to protect the cells from infection with feline immunodeficiency virus -- an approach that may shed light on ways to protect human cells from HIV infection. Findings were reported in the September 11, 2011, online edition of Nature Methods.

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Large Vaccine Study Will Look at HIV Prevention as well as Disease Progression

A large ongoing HIV vaccine study will now test whether a prime-boost candidate can prevent infection as well as lower viral load among people infected, based on the promising protective effect seen so far, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced.

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