HIV vaccine able to produce "broadly neutralizing antibodies"

[rawTOP]

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add6502 (The actual study)

A phase 1 clinical trial with a new HIV vaccine achieved a big step forward for vaccine technology in general that may revolutionize vaccines for a number of pathogens beyond HIV.

Here's the logic of broadly neutralizing antibodies (warning - it's "dense")…

Quote

Vaccines that induce antibodies with predefined genetic features and binding specificities have promise to combat viruses with high antigenic diversity such as HIV, influenza, hepatitis C virus, and betacoronaviruses. Although these pathogens have eluded the development of vaccines that induce broad immunity covering their antigenic diversity, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have been discovered. Such bnAbs bind to relatively conserved epitopes on membrane glycoproteins of each pathogen, with features of each antibody allowing binding to a particular epitope. If vaccines could be developed to consistently induce similar bnAbs, preferably in conjunction with broad T cell immunity, protection against these pathogens might be achieved.

And the results…

Quote

…phase 1 clinical trial showing that a germline-targeting priming immunogen was safe and feasible and induced targeted bnAb-precursor responses in 97% of vaccine recipients at substantial frequencies in each individual

In layperson's terms HIV vaccines have been elusive because of how much variation there is in the different strains of HIV. This vaccine is promising because it produces an immune response that can fight most, if not all, strains of HIV. That's a first. And the hope is that a similar approach can be applied to other pathogens (think about how new SARS-CoV2 variants are able to get past immunization - this could end that type of thing.)

Yesterday was International AIDS Day. While AIDS had a horrible toll on our community, the silver lining is the advancement in medical technology that's come out of it (once Reagan and Bush Sr. started taking it seriously - the delays were unforgivable). Even the COVID vaccines we have now are thanks in part to research into HIV. The things that were learned in HIV research often apply much more broadly.

More here: https://interestingengineering.com/health/hiv-vaccine-triumphs-phase-1

[pussyboy82]

Yeah but those Covid vaccines have some nasty side effects. Could be a worse option than medication.....

 

[PozBearWI]

6 minutes ago, pussyboy82 said:

Yeah but those Covid vaccines have some nasty side effects. Could be a worse option than medication.....

 

Those side effects were in very few individuals who received the vaccines.  For the majority of us there were no adverse side effects.  

[Pozme1981]

I would not want to try had loads of side effects from other meds me on Covid one put me on icu 

[austin_submale]

6 hours ago, JimInWisc said:

Those side effects were in very few individuals who received the vaccines.  For the majority of us there were no adverse side effects.  

I think that is generally true.  However, I wasn't all that comfortable with the mRNA technology due to how new it was so I opted for Novavax which is a much more traditional vaccine based on cloned protein spikes from the virus.  Unfortunately Novavax until fairly recently was not widely available in the US due to how long it takes for drugs to be approved here.  To get it I had to take part in a clinical trial.  It was approved in India, China and some other countries way before it was here.

Also another thing I've read is most of the side effects were from one particular brand of the mRNA vaccines, and generally the people who had issues (clotting mainly) usually had other pre-existing conditions that may have affected it.  People who were otherwise generally healthy I think rarely had anything seriously adverse.  A little injection site discomfort or feeling ill the day after getting the shot is not really such a big deal, and minor things like that have been common with a lot of vaccines over the years -- ones that are generally accepted as being safe and effective.

 

[austin_submale]

I should add...  I'm not a doctor or even a "real scientist".  I also don't accept everything that is put out there without question...  I try to read and research as much as I can.  I think that's healthy.  Being a little skeptical, especially when things are coming out of a crisis, I think is reasonable.  But buying into tinfoil hat conspiracy theories...  yeah, probably not so much.  It's a matter of looking at all the evidence, seeing what seems credible and balancing it all to come to a conclusion.  Not that even at that everything is going to be right the first time.  Certainly everyone's understandings of Covid have changed a lot since March of 2020.  And that when you think about it...  is not that long ago.

 

[austin_submale]

Speaking of clinical trials...  After reading the links above what I didn't see was any way to get in touch with the organizations who actually perform the clinical trials so you can sign up.  There are a couple of companies that do those trials in my area, and at least one of them also has locations in several other large cities.  Unfortunately for people outside the US or who don't live near a major metro area they may not be able to find access like that.  I guess I may have to call the place I did the Covid vaccine trial to see if they are doing anything with this one.

 

[rawTOP]

Gizmodo did an article on the vaccine and it's much more readable / understandable than the articles I quoted above…

https://apple.news/A4K_MQR-JTCCsqc0DbGNsYg
 

Quote

A new method for obtaining these antibodies, known as the germline-targeting strategy, is represented by eOD-GT8 60mer. In simple terms, the first dose of vaccine tries to prime a rare and select group of B cells into a state where they could produce these antibodies. Subsequent boosters are then supposed to reactivate these cells, eventually leading to durable and broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

The researchers found that 35 out of 36 volunteers appeared to generate the precursors to these broadly neutralizing antibodies and that this immune response only grew in strength following the second dose.

“The hope is that if you can induce this kind of immunity in people, you can protect them from some of these viruses that we’ve had a very hard time designing vaccines for that are effective,” Timothy Schacker, the program director in HIV medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who was not involved in the research, told CNN. “So this is an important step forward.”

 

[And just a reminder - posting fringe conspiracy theories about COVID or whatever will earn you infractions. We don't tolerate statements that contradict the vast majority of scientific findings - especially when it could impact someone's health/life.]

[evilcoyote]

This is great, thank you for sharing. 

[rawTOP]

19 hours ago, austin_submale said:

Speaking of clinical trials...  After reading the links above what I didn't see was any way to get in touch with the organizations who actually perform the clinical trials so you can sign up.  There are a couple of companies that do those trials in my area, and at least one of them also has locations in several other large cities.  Unfortunately for people outside the US or who don't live near a major metro area they may not be able to find access like that.  I guess I may have to call the place I did the Covid vaccine trial to see if they are doing anything with this one.

The two major sponsoring organizations are IAVI (which sponsored the trial above) and HVTN. The HVTN site is particularly good at explaining how to get into a trail. A whole section of their site is dedicated to that. Start by looking at their Study Clinics page and find the study center nearest you. Once you have the name of the center, Google it and you'll usually find a list of studies they're participating in and sign-up pages for the ones that are enrolling participants. If you don't see sign-up pages, call them and ask questions.

And regarding "people outside the US or who don't live near a major metro area" a big issue in vaccine research is the tendency to only study familiar groups. As a result most studies try to have at least one location in somewhere different - like Africa or Asia. They just need to show that the results in the non-standard group mirror the results in "the usual suspects" to say the findings should be generally true for all populations of people. But yeah, major urban areas with lots of gay men (and others in the queer community) are the best places to do HIV vaccine research since you can recruit a lot of folks quickly and easily.

[austin_submale]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:41 AM, rawTOP said:

The two major sponsoring organizations are IAVI (which sponsored the trial above) and HVTN. The HVTN site is particularly good at explaining how to get into a trail. A whole section of their site is dedicated to that. Start by looking at their Study Clinics page and find the study center nearest you. Once you have the name of the center, Google it and you'll usually find a list of studies they're participating in and sign-up pages for the ones that are enrolling participants. If you don't see sign-up pages, call them and ask questions.

And regarding "people outside the US or who don't live near a major metro area" a big issue in vaccine research is the tendency to only study familiar groups. As a result most studies try to have at least one location in somewhere different - like Africa or Asia. They just need to show that the results in the non-standard group mirror the results in "the usual suspects" to say the findings should be generally true for all populations of people. But yeah, major urban areas with lots of gay men (and others in the queer community) are the best places to do HIV vaccine research since you can recruit a lot of folks quickly and easily.

Thanks for the info on how to find out about the trials.  That should help anyone who is interested in participating.  I took part in one of the trials for Novovax's Covid vaccine.  I'll have to check in to whether this one is going to be offered in my area.  There are major research institutions around here so we have some companies that work with the drug companies on trials on a regular basis even though Austin isn't a really huge city (2.5-3 million or so).

[austin_submale]

Unfortunately for me...  it looks like the nearest place that is part of those trials is Houston, which is a 3+ hour drive each way from Austin, and sadly, I would bet that probably excludes me from taking part.  Maybe they will expand the trials in the future.