Vaccination for AIDS

[jos]

Schief lab had created an immunogen called eOD-GT8 60mer, a protein nanoparticle designed to bind and activate B cells needed to fight HIV. This was tested in mouse models engineered by the Nemazee lab to produce antibodies that resemble human antibodies.

This suggested that eOD-GT8 60mer could be a good candidate to serve as the first in a series of immunizations against HIV.

A major goal of HIV-1 vaccine research is the design of immunogens capable of inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) that bind to the viral envelope glycoprotein (Env). Poor binding of Env to unmutated precursors of bnAbs, including those of the VRC01-class, appears to be a major problem for bnAb induction. We engineered an immunogen that binds to VRC01-class bnAb precursors and immunized knock-in mice expressing germline-reverted VRC01 heavy chains. Induced antibodies showed characteristics of VRC01-class bnAbs, including a short light chain complementarity determining region 3 (CDRL3) and mutations that favored binding to near-native HIV-1 gp120 constructs. In contrast, native-like immunogens failed to activate VRC01-class precursors. The results suggest that rational epitope design can prime rare B cell precursors for affinity maturation to desired targets.

 

 

A concurrent study also in Science, which included researchers from Amsterdam University, Weill Cornell Medical College, TSRI and IAVI, showed engineered immunogens also triggered broadly neutralizing antibody immune responses in rabbit and monkey models.

 

About IAVI

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global not-for-profit organization whose mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. Founded in 1996, IAVI works with partners in 25 countries to research, design and develop AIDS vaccine candidates. The organization also conducts policy analysis and serves as an advocate for the AIDS vaccine field. It supports a comprehensive approach to addressing HIV and AIDS that balances the expansion and strengthening of existing HIV prevention and treatment programs with targeted investments in the design and development of new tools to prevent HIV. IAVI is dedicated to ensuring that a future AIDS vaccine will be available and accessible to all who need it.

 

IAVI's work is made possible by generous support from many donors including: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark; Irish Aid; the Ministry of Finance of Japan in partnership with The World Bank; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands; the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD); the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The full list of IAVI donors is available at www.iavi.org.

 

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs about 2,700 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including two Nobel laureates—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/06/17/science.aac5894

http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2015/20150618aidsvaccine.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689846/

http://www.iavireport.org/Back-Issues/Pages/Opening-the-Envelope.aspx

http://www.iavireport.org/Back-Issues/Documents/IR_Vol19No1_2015.pdf

[Techhog]

Not even remotely tech news, but great nonetheless. 

[jos]

Not even remotely tech news, but great nonetheless. 

It is a great news.. i know it is not tech... but still it is remarkable news

[Trik'Stari]

Awesome news,

[Nineshadow]

inb4 it gets patented and someone gets very rich.

[jos]

inb4 it gets patented and someone gets very rich.

I think it was created by a lab associated with a pharmaceutical company, and you know what it means

[Blade of Grass]

Awesome, sadly not Tech. Moved to Off Topic.

[KemoKa]

Not even remotely tech news, but great nonetheless. 

Think of the R&D that went into it. Surely it must be even just slightly, remotely related to technology, given that it was created in a lab?

[Sauron]

Add something about the hardware used to develop the vaccine, so it gets moved back to news ^^

[jos]

inb4 it gets patented and someone gets very rich.

My mistake for earlier post

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs about 2,700 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including two Nobel laureates—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information

[MrDynamicMan]

They must've used distributed computing... And BACK TO NEWS!

[deviant88]

Now people can have as much butt sex as they want no more AIDS.

[HarmFull]

Great news,

 

next step, cure cancer

[KemoKa]

Great news,

 

next step, cure cancer

if they can design a nanoparticle needed for B cells to fight HIV, then programming a virus to checksum cell DNA should be no problem.

 

come on, research people, you have the internet at hand! How much computational power could you want?

[Real_PhillBert]

Dont worry guys, North Korea already had this covered:

 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_MERS_DRUG?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-19-05-58-13

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Great. 

 

 

If only we would have had this back in the early 80s ...

[Delusional Phil]

if they can design a nanoparticle needed for B cells to fight HIV, then programming a virus to checksum cell DNA should be no problem.

 

come on, research people, you have the internet at hand! How much computational power could you want?

If only we can create a nanomachine that synchronize with our Cyrcadian Rythm and Cell division rhythm ... Also that nanomachine should be customize to have our DNA so it can check and destroy any abnomal cell growth and help our immune system fight agaisnt threats ... 

[Suika]

This is great news!... Posting for a friend...

[HarmFull]

if they can design a nanoparticle needed for B cells to fight HIV, then programming a virus to checksum cell DNA should be no problem.

 

come on, research people, you have the internet at hand! How much computational power could you want?

Actualy there's already someone who has found a way to detect Cancer early. Don't know exactly how it works but it seems there are certain similarities across people in the way the DNA  mutates to a cancer cell. By detecting these mutations as early as possible, cancer can be fought a lot more effectively. It's not a direct cure, but a step in the right direction.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jorge_soto_the_future_of_early_cancer_detection?

[techswede]

I thought the title was "Vacation for AIDS" first

But this is great news.

 

I just shudder at the thought of the ant-vaxxers trying to justify not getting it

[KemoKa]

Actualy there's already someone who has found a way to detect Cancer early. Don't know exactly how it works but it seems there are certain similarities across people in the way the DNA  mutates to a cancer cell. By detecting these mutations as early as possible, cancer can be fought a lot more effectively. It's not a direct cure, but a step in the right direction.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jorge_soto_the_future_of_early_cancer_detection?

Remember that kid who found out how to detect pancreatic cancer with 100% accuracy in 5 minutes for 5 cents? That hasn't been implemented yet, call me a tinfoil hat person, but I think someone didn't want that to happen. Too much money is made on cancer for a cure to ever be distributed even if it is found.

[Thunderpup]

This is great news, but we are likely a solid decade away from any human trials.

 

Also not to be a Debby downer, but HIV/AIDs is a slippery devil and mutates often, which is why our immune system has such a hard time with it.

 

Now if those nano particles are capable of seeing through the protein molt changes and identify the virus regardless of its genetic camouflage then great.

 

Still even if it cant keep up with the rate of viral mutation having another tool in the shed is still a good thing.

 

As far as the cancer topic goes here is a good video highlighting just how difficult cancer is in defeating, but also details some medical innovations that will help toward its defeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tzaWOdvGMw