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Testing a New HIV Vaccine

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 06:00 CST

Testing a New HIV Vaccine

source: Health Scout News

A clinical trial of a new AIDS vaccine begins this month at three locations in the United States.

This vaccine strategy includes two different components -- two inoculations of a DNA vaccine that primes the immune system to recognize HIV, followed by a booster vaccine based on a recombinant poxvirus.

Neither of these components incorporates the actual HIV virus. Instead, the vaccine produces the three major proteins expressed by HIV. That primes the body's immune system to respond to the distinguishing features of HIV so it is ready to battle the virus if it enters the body, the researchers say.

The trial will last one year. It will focus on assessing the safety of the primer DNA vaccine among people who are HIV-negative. They'll be randomly assigned to receive either a high-dose vaccine, low-dose vaccine or a placebo.

A separate trial will examine the safety of the booster vaccine, and a third trial will test the safety of the combined regimen.

The vaccine was developed at the Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, the Emory Vaccine Center, and the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

More information about HIV vaccines.

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