New DNA-based vaccine shows promise against HIV

Credit: anilakkus

By Olivia Bowthorpe

Researchers have created a new type of DNA-based vaccine that could help in the long quest to develop an effective HIV vaccine.

The study found using DNA rather than protein as the scaffold for the vaccine particle was eight times better in tests in mice at activating the rare immune cells needed to fight the virus compared to the best existing protein vaccines being tested.

HIV mutates rapidly within an individual making it hard for one vaccine to protect against all strains, and the virus has evolved a clever way to hide from antibodies.

The study, published today in Science, claims the new approach works better to support the production of “broadly neutralising antibodies”, a key aim of HIV vaccine design because they can fight many different strains of HIV, not just one.

Researchers described the findings as a “potential breakthrough”.

Dr Mark Bathe, professor of biological engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: "These early preclinical results suggest a potential breakthrough as an entirely new, first-in-class virus-like particle (VLP) that could transform the way we think about active immunotherapies, and vaccine design, across a variety of indications.”