Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 40 million people live with HIV, two thirds of them being on the African continent. In 2023, over 600,000 people died of causes associated with HIV infection, and almost 1.32 million were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Although HIV is the second major infectious cause in the world, after tuberculosis, there is not yet a vaccine that prevents infection. Now, A new promising perspective in HIV treatment comes with testing an innovative vaccine approach. The results, obtained in early clinical studies, suggest a significant potential for the development of a series capable of blocking multiple stems of the virus, with direct benefits especially for the most affected populations.
The first clinical studies conducted on human volunteers, who evaluate an innovative strategy to prevent HIV infection, highlighted encouraging results, according to two articles published on Thursday in the magazine Science.
Studies have evaluated HIV vaccines based on “germinative targeting”, aimed at activating B cells of the immune system in their naive, or germinating state, causing them to become specialized cells that produce wide-spectrum antibodies (BNABS).
The term “germinal” refers to the basic, undeveloped form of receptors on the B cells, as they appear before these cells have been exposed to an antigen and suffered mutations to become very specialized.
A vaccine designed for “germinating targeting” contains specific antigens (called immunogen) that can recognize and activate exactly those B cells capable of evolving into BNABS manufacturers.
By exposing the immune system to a diversified range of HIV viral proteins, these B cells train to produce antibodies capable of recognizing and blocking a wide range of different HIV virus stems, preventing infection of healthy cells.
Germinative targeting requires an initial dose that stimulate B, followed by additional doses that guide their maturation until they can produce efficient BNABs antibodies, researchers reported.
“To all the participants we noticed an immune response indicating that we are on the right track,” said Rogier Sanders from Amsterdam UMC, a main researcher in one of the studies, quoted in a statement.
“We have found that we can target the cells targeted with great precision. The next step is to stimulate these cells to secrete wide -spectrum antibodies,” added Sanders.
In a separate article, another team of researchers reported two early studies that used nanoparticles coded by messenger RNA (MRNA), produced by the modern American pharmaceutical company, to successfully stimulate Grminative B cells. In this case, a small percentage of patients had skin reactions to vaccines.
The Technology based on MRNA, similar to the one used in the Covid-19 vaccines of the American pharmaceutical company, would allow a faster development of a vaccine, the study authors said.
One of the studies was conducted in the United States and the other in Rwanda and South Africa. Although most HIV people live in Africa, the germinal target strategy has not been previously tested in this region.
The researchers mentioned that the MRNA approach seems to operate among the population in North America and the African, opening the way for additional clinical tests with the “germinative target” vaccine in the “African populations that most need an HIV vaccine“, according to the authors of this study.
