New Approach to Immunizing Against HIV Is Dramatically Effective in Mice

Several antibodies that broadly neutralize many strains of HIV-1 have been identified (JW Gen Med Oct 13 2011). However, experts have been skeptical that traditional immunization techniques — immunizing with a viral protein or with DNA that produces the protein (JW Gen Med Aug 17 1999) — could elicit production of such antibodies in sufficient amounts to be clinically effective. Now, a Caltech team led by Nobel laureate David Baltimore has created a viral vector that carries genes that directly produce the HIV-neutralizing antibodies in a procedure known as vectored immunoprophylaxis.

When injected intramuscularly in mice, the vector led to long-term production of high levels of these antibodies. When mice with immune systems composed of hum…