STAT+: Using mRNA, scientists overcome a key challenge to HIV vaccines
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The decades-long push to develop an HIV vaccine has been riddled with setbacks. But researchers reported on Wednesday that they have managed to circumvent one of the longstanding challenges to developing protective shots against this complex and crafty virus.<\/p>\n
Scientists used a messenger RNA-based vaccine to reliably trigger antibodies that block viral infection in people and monkeys. The key, they found, was to use a vaccine that hid a portion of a key protein complex that pokes out of HIV\u2019s surface, concealing a region that usually distracts the immune system from mounting a protective response. Only 4% of participants given a vaccine that exposed this part of the viral surface produced antibodies that could block infection; that jumped to 80% when this region wasn\u2019t visible to the immune system.<\/p>\n
While researchers found that the vaccines they tested were generally safe and well tolerated, 6.5% of study participants developed hives, a finding also seen in another mRNA-based HIV vaccine study. These cases improved when participants took antihistamines, but scientists are looking into why this happened and how to avoid it.<\/p>\n
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n