Scientists have discovered new vulnerable site on the HIV virus that can be attacked by human antibodies in a way that neutralizes the infectivity of a wide variety of HIV strains.
The researchers from Scripps Research Institute Scientists working with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative said that an effective vaccine would work by eliciting a strong and long-lasting immune response against vulnerable conserved sites on the virus-sites that don't vary much from strain to strain, and that, when grabbed by an antibody, leave the virus unable to infect cells.
D ennis R. Burton, professor in TSRI's Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, said that HIV has very few known sites of vulnerability, but in this work we've described a new one, and we expect it will be useful in developing a vaccine.
The study was published in the journal Immunity.