New research helps explain why AIDS vaccine has been so difficult to develop

For decades, a successful HIV vaccine has been the Holy Grail for researchers around the globe. Yet, despite years of research and millions of dollars of investment, that goal has still to be achieved. Recent research by Oregon Health & Science University scientists explains a decades-old mystery as to why slightly weakened versions of the monkey AIDS virus were able to prevent subsequent infection with the fully virulent strain, but were too risky for human use, and why severely compromised or completely inactivated versions of the virus were not effective at all. The research was conducted at OHSU’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and is published online in the journal Nature Medicine. Traditionally, there have been two methods for creating vaccines to combat infectious disease. The first approach utilizes a live, yet weakened strain of the disease in question. This weakened strain is not strong enough to cause illness, yet potent enough...