Schools of medicine and health sciences have achieved a 97% success rate after conducting the first-ever human trial of an mRNA HIV vaccine in the past year. release The school issued last month.
Researchers have created a molecule within the vaccine that triggers a response from bnAb precursor B cells that ultimately transform into cells that produce bnAb – a neutralizing antibody that targets the HIV virus, according to the study. releaseDavid Diemert, clinical director of the GW Vaccine Research Unit, said in a release that the trial had an efficacy rate that was more than 66% higher than any other HIV vaccine tested in humans.
Diemart, a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said developing a vaccine was “difficult” because the virus evades the immune system while mutating. He said it could help find vaccines for other infections using similar lymph node technology.
“The concept of this particular vaccine is to give people a vaccine that elicits these antibodies that occur very rarely in nature and are only produced by people who have undergone this series of mutational events. release.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established developing According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, it developed an HIV vaccine in 1984 and began its first clinical trials in 1987. Since 1987, multiple vaccine trials have been conducted. started However, it was later discontinued due to safety concerns and lack of efficacy in treating and preventing HIV.
U.S. Army patronage The 2009 RV144 vaccine trial developed vaccines against the two HIV strains that predominate in Thailand.The vaccine reduced HIV infection rates by 31%, but the trial Stop Effectiveness dropped to 31% in February 2020, according to the US Army HIV Research Program.
HIV is transmitted through anal and vaginal sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and sharing needles, syringes and other drug injection equipment. according to to the CDC. HIV become weak A person’s immune system by destroying cells that fight disease and infection. Number of AIDS patients, a type of HIV shot From 20,000 cases worldwide in 1985, one of the most severe HIV epidemics in recent history, to 400,000 cases worldwide in 1988.
More than 300,000 people in America Diagnosed Sub-Saharan Africa contains two-thirds of all HIV cases worldwide. according to To the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national and global health-focused non-profit organization problem.
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative selected GW was used as one of two testing facilities for an HIV vaccine in October 2018, and GW researchers distributed the first dose last January. Study participants received either two placebos, two low-dose or two high-dose vaccines at eight-week intervals, and researchers analyzed the results after collecting cells from the participants’ blood and lymph nodes. Did.
People with HIV can take drugs known as antiretroviral drugs, which reduce HIV viral load by 81% in the Americas and 94% in Africa. according to to the World Health Organization.
HIV research experts say trial success rates offer encouraging signs for HIV treatment as countries continue to lack vaccination options for treatment.
Andrea Kovacs, professor of pediatrics, pathology, population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, said the vaccine’s antibodies, proteins that neutralize HIV strains, are necessary to prevent mutation and transmission. .
The United States has contributed more than $21 billion to the AIDS response in low-income countries, with about 60% of the funding coming from domestic sources in 2021. according to to UNAIDS.
“Our top priority is preventing transmission between sexual partners and even mother-to-child transmission,” Kovacs said.
Kovacs said health professionals should prioritize vaccination for populations at high risk of HIV account Highest proportion of all newly diagnosed HIV cases. She said strategies that combine multiple prevention methods, such as vaccination and medication, are important to reduce transmission, especially internationally.
Access to HIV vaccination and treatment is “critical” to prevent infection and death, says Richard Wamai, an associate professor of cultural, social and global studies at Northeastern University, but a health insurance issue. said access was “complex” in the United States because of racism and other forms of inequality manifesting in health disparities.
Wamai said he traveled to East Africa in December 2022 to study biomedical HIV interventions. Infection High as part of the “HIV belt”. He said structural interventions, such as increasing girls’ access to sex education, and behavioral interventions, such as distributing condoms, are needed in combination with biomedical interventions such as vaccines.
“HIV doesn’t have to be a killer,” says Wamai. “Well, in 2021 he will have 600,000 deaths from HIV worldwide.With good treatments available, we can prevent these deaths.”
This article is January 30, 2023 issue Hatchet’s.
