New HIV vaccine shows unprecedented success in primate studies

A groundbreaking new HIV vaccine has shown unprecedented success in primates-and data published in Nature suggest the vaccine has the potential to protect humans from developing HIV infection and AIDS. 

The vaccine was developed through a 14-year collaboration led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and Scripps Research.

"This has been one of those Apollo moon mission-type projects, where there is an exceptional goal and the team has to accomplish a myriad of discoveries and inventions along the way," says LJI Professor and Chief Scientific Officer Shane Crotty, Ph.D., who co-led the research with Scripps Research Professor William Schief, Ph.D. 

Highlights:

• The researchers developed an HIV vaccine that trains immune cells to see past HIV's defenses. 
• The new HIV vaccine works by prompting the body's immune system to make high numbers of rarely seen "broadly neutralizing" antibodies.
• In a recent pre-clinical trial, this vaccine resulted in the best HIV-fighting antibody response ever seen in primates.
• The research suggests the new vaccine has the potential to protect humans from developing HIV infection and AIDS.