Improving the effect of HIV drugs by use of the Tat vaccine

A phase II clinical trial conducted in South Africa has confirmed that the therapeutic Tat vaccine against HIV/AIDS can effectively improve the response to antiretroviral drugs in people living with HIV. The results are published in the peer-review open access Journal Retrovirology. The vaccine was developed at the National Institute of Health of Italy (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, or ISS) by the National AIDS Center (NAC) directed by Dr. Barbara Ensoli. The trial, conducted at MeCRU, the Clinical Research Unit of the Sefako Makgatho University, enrolled 200 participants on antiretroviral treatment with undetectable levels of HIV in blood. The participants were randomly assigned to two “blinded” groups to receive three intradermal injections of 30 μg of the vaccine or placebo one month apart. After 48 weeks from vaccination, the codes were broken, and the vaccinated participants showed significant increases of CD4+ T cells over placebo. The gain of CD4+ T cells...