MIT researchers have made a major breakthrough in developing a more practical HIV vaccine regimen that may require just two doses.
One of the main challenges in developing an effective vaccine is that HIV mutates rapidly and evades the immune response. Previously, MIT scientists demonstrated that administering increasing doses of an HIV vaccine over a two-week period could generate more neutralizing antibodies. However, this multi-dose regimen is impractical for large-scale immunization.
In a new study, a team of MIT researchers found that two doses, one smaller and one larger, spaced a week apart, could generate a similarly robust immune response as a more potent multiple-dose regimen, reports Interesting Engineering journal.
The first dose jump-starts the immune system, while the second dose enables a stronger response.The new method was developed through computational modelling and tested in mice using HIV envelope proteins as a vaccine.
A one-dose version of the vaccine is currently being tested in clinical trials, but researchers are working to conduct trials that also test a two-dose schedule — an approach that could have broader applications to other vaccines, Professor Arup Chakraborty, the project’s lead researcher, told the Journal.
More than one million people become infected with HIV each year, many of whom have no access to antiviral drugs, and the report says a successful vaccine could prevent many of these infections.
In ongoing studies, the team compared different dosing schedules and found that a two-dose strategy (giving 20% of the vaccine in the first dose and 80% in the second dose) produced antibody responses comparable to a seven-dose regimen.
This promising approach is currently being tested in non-human primate models.
Published on 21 Sep 2024, 09:36 IST
