Groundbreaking HIV vaccine design strategy shows promise in proof-of-principle tests

A new approach that targets young immune cells may also work for creating vaccines against the flu, dengue, malaria and hepatitis C. A collaborative team of scientists has made a successful proof-of-principle demonstration of an advanced HIV vaccine strategy–an approach that may also work in protecting people from an array of other deadly infectious diseases. The team, led by scientists at Scripps Research, also included the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University; the La Jolla Institute for Immunology; and IAVI, a scientific research organization focused on HIV and other global health challenges. Their research appears in Science. The new vaccine strategy centers on stimulating the immune system to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against HIV. These special antibodies are capable of neutralizing many different strains of the fast-mutating virus by binding to important yet difficult-to-access regions of the virus surface that don’t vary much from strain to strain. A vaccine...