Scientists cautiously optimistic about HIV vaccine candidate

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baby“I would say that we are pleased with these data so far, but we have to interpret the data cautiously,” said study co-author Dr. Dan H. Barouch, a principal investigator on the study, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research. “We have to acknowledge that developing an HIV vaccine is an unprecedented challenge, and we will not know for sure whether this vaccine will protect humans.” [CNN article]

hiv hill

There is no cure for HIV—but scientists may be getting closer

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hiv hillBut in the latest report presented this month at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, researchers revealed the strongest evidence yet that these latent viruses can be activated and eliminated, at least in animals. In a study involving a form of HIV that infects monkeys, Dr. Dan Barouch and his colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School showed that a drug that stimulates the immune system and activates the dormant HIV, combined with a powerful antibody that can neutralize the HIV-infected cells, prevented HIV from surging back in five of 11 animals, six months after they stopped taking ARVs. In the monkeys whose HIV did return, the virus levels were 100 times lower than they were in animals that were not treated at all.

I think our data raises the possibility that an intervention achieving a functional cure is possible,” says Barouch. “It shows a level of potential efficacy, at least in animals, that to the best of my knowledge hasn’t been seen before. [Time article]

Barouch

Highlights in Basic and Clinical Research in HIV/AIDS

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BarouchThis meeting started in 2015 and has achieved big success with more than 400 attendees including both basic researchers and clinicians specialized in HIV/AIDS. The purpose is to discuss the most relevant publications (basic science, clinical science and epidemiology/ public health) with one of the co-authors of the publications.” [El Pais article]

Push for an HIV Vaccine Gaining Momentum

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“Barouch told MD Magazine the push for an HIV vaccine has been gaining momentum.

“We developed a consortium to advance this vaccine over the past several years,” he said. “We are very pleased that multiple funders, stakeholders, and collaborators have been very enthusiastic to work together to move this vaccine forward.”

The study is named “Imbokodo” — the Zulu word for “rock” — and is a reference to an African proverb that refers to the strength of women.

The vaccine regimen is based on mosaic immunogens, which are designed to create a buffer against various strains of HIV. The diversity of HIV strains has been 1 major hurdle in creating a vaccine for the disease. The regimen has already proven effective at stopping the transmission of an HIV-like virus in monkeys.”

[MD Magazine article]

Zika info

Harvard Magazine: Toward a Zika Vaccine

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Zika info

At the one-year mark, the DNA vaccine was no longer effective, reports professor of medicine Dan Barouch, director of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Virology and Vaccine Research (CVVR) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center today in Science Translational Medicine (STM). The team, including CVVR’s Peter Abbink, Rafael Larocca, and other colleagues there and at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and at Bioqual, an animal-testing facility, did find that the vaccine based on an inactivated Zika virus (administered in two doses, four weeks apart) provided robust protection to 75 percent of rhesus monkeys after one year, a good result. But the third vaccine they had created—delivered by an adenovirus, the family that causes severe colds—proved even more effective, providing 100 percent protection to the monkeys with just a single immunization, even a year after administration.

[Harvard Magazine article]

barouch receives award

Dr. Dan Barouch Receives the 2017 Drexel Prize in Immunology

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mosquito

Zika Vaccine Induces Robust Immune Responses in Three Phase 1 Trials

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mosquito

Healthy adults mounted strong immune responses after receiving an investigational whole inactivated Zika virus vaccine, according to interim analyses of three Phase 1, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), and Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

BIDMC News

NIH logo

NIH and Partners Launch HIV Vaccine Efficacy Study

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Public-Private Partnership Begins Clinical Trial in Sub-Saharan Africa.[NIH News]

Dr Dan Barouch

Dr. Dan Barouch featured in Boston Magazine

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Dr Dan Barouch

As director of Beth Israel Deaconess’s Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Barouch is behind a new vaccine that could stop the disease [HIV] in its tracks.

[Boston Magazine article]