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Updated July 7th, 2021 at 18:01 IST

HIV Vaccine Phase 1 trial begins at Oxford, results expected in 2022

HIV positive people are administered with antiretroviral treatment and biomedical treatments. Oxford University has developed a vaccine for AIDS.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
HIV
IMAGE: Unsplash/representative Image | Image:self
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After creating the successful COVID-19 vaccine against the deadly coronavirus, the University of Oxford on Tuesday, July 6, started the Phase I clinical trial for its newly created human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine candidate ‘HIVconsvX’. Scientists designed the new jab against the variety of HIV-1 variants that attack the body’s immune system, specifically the white blood cells called CD4 cells weakening the patient’s immunity to fight tuberculosis and some cancers. It causes chronic, potentially life-threatening conditions AIDS or the Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The patient in his/her final stages damages the immune system of the body entirely, although not everyone with HIV develops AIDS.

Currently, people diagnosed with HIV positive are administered with antiretroviral treatment and biomedical treatments. But in a breakthrough, scientists at Oxford have now been able to manufacture a vaccine which they are ready to test on 13 healthy volunteers, all HIV-negative individuals aged between 18 to 65 years. 

HIV spreads by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, and it is most commonly transmitted during unprotected sex (sex without a condom or HIV medicine to prevent or treat HIV). People who have sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are at increased risk of getting or spreading HIV. The disease also spreads by injecting drugs with shared needles. There is no cure for HIV infection, except for the medicines and antiretroviral therapy (ART) which makes the HIV’s symptoms ‘manageable’. 

“While most HIV vaccine candidates work by inducing antibodies generated by B-cells, HIVconsvX induces the immune system’s potent, pathogen obliterating T cells, targeting them to highly conserved and therefore vulnerable regions of HIV – an “Achilles heel” common to most HIV variants,” University of Oxford said in a release. 

Dr. Paola Cicconi, Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, and the trial Chief Investigator, said: “Achieving protection against HIV is extremely challenging and it is important that we harness the protective potential of both the antibody and T cell arms of the immune system.”

In the phase I trial, scientists will administer one HIVconsvX dose on the participants and then a booster dose separately for at least four weeks and study the results of the ‘mosaic’ vaccine that may be helpful for HIV patients in all geographical locations. Called the ‘HIV-CORE 0052,’ these trials will determine the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the HIV vaccine under the European Aids Vaccine Initiative funded by the European Commission.

Results expected in April 2022

The vaccine will stimulate B cells to produce antibodies and activate the T cell arms of the immune system against the virus. The results from the Phase I HIV-CORE 0052 trial are expected to be available in April 2022. Researchers meanwhile will also test the efficacy of the jab in  Europe, Africa, and the US.

University of Oxford Jenner Institute vaccine immunology professor and trial lead researcher Tomáš Hanke said: “An effective HIV vaccine has been elusive for 40 years. This trial is the first in a series of evaluations of this novel vaccine strategy in both HIV-negative individuals for prevention and in people living with HIV for a cure.”

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Published July 7th, 2021 at 18:04 IST

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