American biotech company Modern and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative announced that the first doses of a HIV vaccine with messenger RNA technology have been administered in humans.
Despite four decades of research, scientists have yet to develop a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS and kills hundreds of thousands of people each year. However, the recent successes of messenger RNA technology, which has allowed the development of vaccines against Covid-19 in record time, including that of the American company Moderna, have given hope.
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The so-called phase 1 trial is being conducted in the United States on 56 seronegative adults.
Antibody production
The goal of the vaccine being tested is stimulate the production of a certain type of antibody (bnAb), capable of acting against the numerous circulating variants of HIV. The vaccine aims to educate the B cells, which are part of our immune system, to produce these antibodies.
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To do this, the trial will test the injection of an initial immunogen, that is, a substance capable of eliciting an immune response, and a booster immunogen injected later. They will be delivered via messenger RNA technology. “The production of bnAbs is widely considered a target of HIV vaccination, and this is a first step in that process,” the statement said.
“Other immunogens will be needed to guide the immune system on the right path, but this combination of a booster and an enhancer could be just the thing. first key component of a potential HIV vaccine regimen“, explained David Diemert, chief scientist of the trial at one of the four centers where it is carried out, the George Washington University.
The immunogens used were developed by the scientific research organization International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Scripps Research Institute, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAD) of United States, and Modern.
Last year, a first trial, in which messenger RNA was not used, but tested the first immunogen, showed that the desired immune response was elicited in several dozen participants. The next step was to collaborate with Moderna.
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“The search for an HIV vaccine is long and difficult, and having new tools in terms of immunogens and platform could be key to making rapid progress,” said Mark Feinberg, Director of IAVI.
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