Vaccine: A Hope for Aids Patients

In a important invention, scientists may have found the most powerful weapon to date to fight HIV. Bringing hope to the idea of developing an efficient vaccine against the deadly virus, scientists have revealed two extremely powerful new antibodies that defuse all major forms of the virus from the body of an African man.

An antibody is an infection-fighting protein formed by our immune system when it sense unsafe substances like viruses and bacteria. Interestingly, this African man is part of a select community on this earth who are infected with HIV but show no indications or worsening of physical condition, thanks to these antibodies.

Scientists connected with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) at the Scripps Research Institute in the United States said these antibodies had also discovered an Achilles heel on the virus.

This major discovery, reported in the journal Science on Friday 4th Sep. 2009, also found that these two antibodies target a secure segment of the virus that does not frequently alter a defence mechanism that has till now helped the virus escape earlier developed trial vaccines.

Experts will now look at closely where the antibodies bind to the virus. This will tell them which part of the virus to target with vaccines. The panel of scientists, which made the breakthrough, said they also recognized what genes the donor’s body used to build the neutralising antibodies.

Researchers believe they can make an effective vaccine if they are able to get the human body to generate such neutralising antibodies before exposure to HIV.