New HIV Antibodies Hold Promise For Vaccines

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Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute report promising findings in their research report, Broad and Potent Neutralizing Antibodies from an African Donor Reveal a New HIV-1 Vaccine Target. According to this LA Times news article, Antibodies found that prevent HIV from causing severe AIDS, this means that they have isolated two so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that can block the action of many strains of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS. Other bNAbs against HIV have been discovered before, but PG9 and PG16 are the first to be isolated in over 10 years from donors in developing countries, where most new HIV infections occur. Also, the previously identified bNAbs bind to spots on the virus that are hard to target with vaccines. These new antibodies, which are more potent than other antibodies described to date while maintaining great breadth, attach to a novel, and potentially more accessible site on HIV to facilitate vaccine design. 

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