22
votes
First clinical trial confirms HIV vaccine using Moderna inoculation
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- Title
- First-in-human clinical trial confirms novel HIV vaccine approach developed by IAVI and Scripps Research
- Word count
- 1251 words
Could someone more literate in medical study terminology than I translate? From what I gather, this is saying that this method could potentially work to create an actual vaccine?
There's a type of antibodies called "broadly neutralizing antibodies", which are particulary well suited for neutralising fast-mutating viruses like HIV. The problem is that said antibodies are only produced by specific immune cells that, under natural circumstances, can't produce enough antibodies to mount an effective defence. The type of vaccine being tested here seems to be capable of stimulating those cells to levels of antibody production high enough to actually counteract the infection.
It's not an actual HIV vaccine, but it shows that parts of the immune system can be effectively stimulated to fight viruses like HIV.
Ah, thanks for the explanation!
No problem :)
This means this could be effective for lots of other things?
In theory, yes. Broadly neutralising antibodies are effective against fast-mutating viruses because they target parts of the viral structure that don't change much between the different strains. The technique being studied here could theoretically be applied to other viruses — influenza, for example — if it proves to be a reliable and safe way of boosting the production of these antibodies.
So potentially a cure for the common cold?
Not a cure as such, but potentially a way to provide immunisation and prevent you from getting it in the first place. There's a similar push, for example, to develop a universal flu shot. Instead of getting a shot each year for whatever strain of influenza is doing the rounds, you get one that is able to neutralise the influenza virus, no matter what mutations it shows any given season.
There’s apparently a lot of misconceptions going on about this research. This Twitter thread covers it better than I could, but the tl;dr is: not actually based on Moderna’s work yet, and doesn’t yet connote efficacy. https://twitter.com/taghivscience/status/1379453571884851204?s=21