HIV Vaccine in the Works

ADCC antibodies: On the quest of finding a vaccine for HIV. There is the exciting news from the land down under. 

By investigating the action of the human antibodies called ADCC, in people with HIV, researchers were able to identify that the virus tries to escape the ADCC antibodies.

ADCC antibodies can lead to development of a vaccine for AIDS.

Professor Stephen Kent of the University of Melbourne and one of the senior authors on the paper explain that for a while now,  ADCC antibodies have been guarding against  HIV in several vaccine trials, but no one really understood why. Kent looked at how the sequence of the virus had mutated over time to avoid the immune response.

Kent continues to explain that the present results show what a slippery customer the HIV virus is. In addition to that, it reveals that these ADCC antibodies are really forcing the virus to change and become weaker. 

The team led by Dr Ivan Stratov and Professor Kent employed a novel technology developed in their laboratory to find where ADCC antibodies were attacking the virus. It also implies that if good ADCC antibodies were available prior to infection, via a vaccine, we might be able to stop the virus taking hold.

This research group is now working on  HIV vaccines to induce ADCC antibodies which will make it more difficult for the virus to escape. Studies suggest ADCC responses supply significant immune pressure on the virus.