Researchers Develop Vaccine Candidate That Is Successful In Blocking Simian Version Of HIV

Researchers have successfully blocked SIV, the simian version of HIV, using a new technique that could help lead to the development of an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine, the






Hildegund Ertl, a virus expert at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, said, "It is a very innovative approach but currently, in my mind, still far from clinical use." Ertl added that because most people have been exposed to adeno-associated viruses through cold viruses, they would be "likely to mount an immune response" to the vaccine. According to Phillip Johnson, most people have not been exposed to the strain of the adeno-associated virus that the researchers used as the carrier. He added that they "will be certainly looking at that as part of our Phase I testing in humans" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18).


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