A preventative HIV vaccine is on the horizon
Worldwide, nearly 37 million people are infected with HIV, and nearly 2 million more become infected every year; the virus leads to the damaging disease AIDS.
Prominent HIV expert Dennis Burton, PhD, who directs the NIH’s Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery (CHAVI-ID) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative’s (IAVI) Neutralizing Antibody Consortium (NAC) at Scripps Research, is spearheading new approaches to a vaccine that could, finally, put a halt to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Years of intense research led Burton and his team to isolate broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) from HIV-infected donors that have the ability to protect against exposure to the vast number of different strains of HIV around the globe. These antibodies establish that an HIV vaccine is possible. And they have formed the starting point for the vaccine design efforts of Burton and his colleagues. By understanding how these antibodies latch onto the virus, the team developed novel vaccines that are entering the clinic for further study.
“Although AIDS drugs have allowed many infected people to live full and normal lives,” Burton says, “an effective HIV vaccine could truly eliminate the threat of HIV in both developing and developed countries.”
With the continued support of donors who understand the progress we have made toward achieving our long-sought goal, we hope to impact the health and well-being of millions.