Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - AIDS vaccine works well in monkeys, holds promise for humans

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Friday, October 20, 2000

AIDS vaccine works well in monkeys, holds promise for humans

By Paul Recer
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - An AIDS vaccine tested in monkeys fails to keep the animals from becoming infected but prompts their bodies to mount a powerful defense that keeps the disease in check, researchers report.
   In a study appearing today in the journal Science, researchers report that rhesus monkeys inoculated with the vaccine, then injected with AIDS virus, developed a strong army of immune system cells that attacked and controlled the infection. The animals, in effect, did not become ill.
   The results suggest, but do not prove, that a similar vaccine developed for humans and now in the early stages of testing might be effective in controlling HIV, said Dr. Norman Letvin, a Harvard Medical School professor and senior author of the study.
   Letvin said the vaccine works by invigorating CD8 lymphocytes in the immune system.
   It is the job of CD8 cells, also called killer lymphocytes, to seek out and destroy cells in the body that have been infected with virus. The CD8 attack controls the population of virus, but does not eradicate it.
   Researchers have long thought that to combat the AIDS virus, the body would have to make a large number of CD8 cells primed to target the virus. The tested vaccine caused a rapid rise in the number of CD8 cells and enabled the immune system to keep the AIDS virus from causing serious illness in 12 inoculated monkeys, said Letvin.
   In the seven of the eight control monkeys that received placebo injections and were then injected with the virus, symptoms of illness quickly developed. Half the control monkeys were dead within 140 days.
   The researcher emphasized that although the monkey study is encouraging, it does not prove that a DNA-based AIDS vaccine will cause such a strong reaction in humans.
   "Using DNA vaccines is a very good way to induce CD8 lymphocyte response in monkeys," said Letvin.
   Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study was "an important proof of concept" because it demonstrated that it is possible for a vaccine to prompt a powerful CD8 lymphocyte attack against the AIDS virus.

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

[an error occurred while processing this directive]