EXPERT REACTION: Trial results for potential HIV vaccine show promise
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2022-12-02 06:00
Following World HIV Day, a Phase 1 clinical trial has provided promising results for a HIV vaccine, say international researchers. They say this vaccine, tested in humans, elicits the creation of broadly neutralising antibodies (bnAbs), which can recognise the globally diverse strains of HIV, and could protect against infection. They say this trial induced bnAb-precursor responses in 26 of the 27 vaccine recipients (97%).
Journal/conference: Science
Link to research (DOI): 10.1126/science.add6502
Organisation/s: Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, USA
Funder: This work was supported
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Collaboration for
AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVIMC INV-007368 to D.M. and G.D.T.;
CCVIMC INV-007371 to R.A.K., A.B.M., and M.J.M.; VISC INV-
008017 and INV-032929 to A.C.d.; VxPDC INV-008352 and INV-
007375 to IAVI; and NAC INV-007522 and INV-008813 to W.R.S.);
IAVI (including IAVI 167627819 to M.J.M., IAVI A08031 research
collaboration agreement with Karolinska Intitutet to G.B.K.H.,
and other support to W.R.S.); the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody
Center (NAC) to W.R.S.; National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID) P01 AI094419 (HIVRAD Optimizing
HIV immunogen-BCR interactions for vaccine developmentā)
(to W.R.S.); UM1 Al100663 (Scripps Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Immunology and Immunogen Discovery) and UM1 AI144462
(Scripps Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development) (to
W.R.S. and M.J.M.); and UM1AI069481 (Seattle-Lausanne CTU),
U19AI128914 (HIPC), and UM1AI068618 (HVTN LC) to M.J.M.
This work was also supported by the Swedish Research Council
(grant 2017-00968 to G.B.K.H.) and by the Ragon Institute of
MGH, MIT, and Harvard (to W.R.S.).
Media release
From: AAAS
Germline-targeting HIV vaccine induces broadly neutralizing antibody precursors in humans
A Phase 1 clinical trial provides promising results for a broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) HIV vaccine, according to a new study. The findings of this first-in-humans test establish a clinical proof-of-principal for germline-targeting vaccine design for HIV and other intractable pathogens. A preventative HIV vaccine is urgently needed to put an end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. One that elicits the production of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), which can recognize the globally diverse strains of HIV and protect against infection, could provide an ideal solution. However, triggering bnAbs through vaccination has not yet been possible. One of the key challenges towards achieving this goal is that bnAbs rarely develop during infection, and, in humans, bnAb-precursor B cells are rather uncommon. An effective bnAb HIV vaccine will need to recruit rare bnAb precursors through germline-targeting to produce HIV bnAbs. Here, David Leggat and colleagues present results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1 clinical trial showing that a germline-targeting priming immunogen was safe and feasible, and induced bnAb-precursor responses in 26 of the 27 vaccine recipients (97%). Leggat et al. designed a germline-targeting, self-assembling nanoparticle immunogen, eOD-GT8, which presented 60 copies of an engineered HIV envelope protein containing mutations designed to enhance its affinity to recruit rare bnAb precursors. “The clinical trial reported by Leggat et al. provides persuasive human data supporting the concept of germline targeting,” writes Penny Moore in a related Perspective, which discusses the study’s findings and limitations in greater detail.
Expert Reaction
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