HIV vaccine results are promising

The Seattle Times ^ | October 22, 2005 | Warren King

[neverdem]

Seattle Times medical reporter

An experimental HIV vaccine, which scientists say is the most promising in 20 years, has had such good results recently that researchers are doubling the number of volunteers involved in the trials.

Scientists in Seattle and other cities in the international HIV Vaccine Trials Network have found much stronger immune responses than earlier tests showed. They've also discovered that the vaccine may protect against more types of HIV, giving it possible wider application than originally believed.

"We're really excited about it ... It's the one out in front," said Dr. Julie McElrath, network lab program director, head of the Seattle vaccine clinic and a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientist.

If encouraging results continue, much larger tests could be launched within five years. If it is shown to be truly effective against the virus, it could be widely available to the public in about seven years, McElrath said.

For now, the Seattle-based vaccine network is increasing the number of research subjects from 1,500 to 3,000 internationally, including boosting the number in Seattle from 50 to 100. Testing of the vaccine, called the Step Study, will continue for nearly five years.

The vaccine, manufactured by Merck, is being tested in 13 other U.S. cities, Canada, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Australia. More countries, including Jamaica and Brazil, also may be added, said Sarah Alexander, associate director of the vaccine-trials network.

Virus difficult target

Scientists have been trying for two decades, since soon after it was discovered that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes AIDS, to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. More than 100 different vaccine preparations have been tried in animals and humans. But the virus mutates, so it is a difficult target.

The latest vaccine uses a disabled form of a common cold virus — called an adenovirus — to ferry three specific HIV genes into the body.

Inserting the genes tricks the immune system into thinking the whole virus has infected the body, and the immune system mounts a defense.

An earlier test showed that in many subjects, using just one of those three genes caused a significant increase in the body's so-called "killer T cells," which attack HIV. A more recent test with all three HIV genes boosted the immunity even more.

The single-gene vaccine triggered a weak response in volunteers who had previously been exposed to the particular cold virus used as the vehicle — one of dozens of adenoviruses that cause colds. But the three-gene vaccine has increased the T-cell response in those people considerably.

"That makes it more likely to work in most people," said McElrath, a veteran HIV researcher.

In addition, the scientists found that the one-gene vaccine raised immunity only against the type of HIV found in North and South America, Europe and Australia. But the three-gene vaccine also increased the number of T-cells sensitive to types of HIV found in Africa.

"It looks like we have a good killer-cell vaccine, so now we need to find out if this approach works" to protect against actual infection, McElrath said.

Early vaccine attempts have focused on using antibodies, another major player in the immune system, to fight off HIV. But more recently, scientists have concentrated on stimulating killer cells to do the job. Some 15 different vaccines are now in trial with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

So far, the adenovirus vaccine in this Step Study has been tested in more than 450 people worldwide with no side effects worse than a fever and aches.

In Seattle, the vaccine is being tested in HIV-free gay men who have had sex with more than two partners in the past six months. Volunteers commit to about 4-½ years of periodic visits to the Hutchinson Center for injections, blood draws and other meetings. They receive three injections over the first six months.

Because the vaccine contains only pieces of the HIV virus and not the entire virus, it cannot cause anyone to contract HIV.

Volunteer gets vaccine

Rod Smith, a volunteer in the Step Study, said participating in the study is something he can do to contribute to the fight against AIDS in addition to giving money. When two of his friends were diagnosed with HIV last spring, it made him think a lot about the epidemic that has killed more than 20 million worldwide. So he signed up to receive the vaccine.

"It's such a hard thing for each of them to cope with," said Smith, a 32-year-old software developer and a Seattle resident. "They aren't going to be the last friends to contract the virus, and maybe [volunteering] will help stop that."

Smith's visits to "The Hutch" have included injections and about six blood draws to check immune-cell levels. Each time he received an injection, he kept a record of any possible reactions. He's had only a headache, and that may have been from a sinus problem, he said.

Smith was only about 9 years old when the first cases of AIDS were being reported nationally. He remembers hearing the news. He also remembers that as he grew into adulthood, he sometimes would hear that an acquaintance had AIDS, then "I never saw him again."

He was pleased to learn that the adenovirus vaccine now appears to increase immunity against three types of HIV — in both men and women.

Now he hopes the Step Study will truly make history.

"It's really exciting," he says. "It will be so great if this is the one."

Warren King: 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com

[neverdem]

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

"It looks like we have a good killer-cell vaccine, so now we need to find out if this approach works" to protect against actual HIV infection, says Dr. Julie McElrath, program director for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and a veteran HIV researcher.

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Donald Carter, a research technician, transfers donor cells in the HIV Vaccine Trials Network lab in Seattle.

To help test the vaccine

Gay men who are interested in volunteering for the HIV vaccine trial can learn more by calling the HIV Vaccine Trials Unit in Seattle at 206-667-2300, by looking online at www.seattlevaccines.org, or by e-mailing info@seattlevaccines.org. Volunteers must have had two or more partners in the past six months.

No heterosexuals need apply. /sarc

[tet68]

Baaah! They can't even come up with a cure for Herpes.

[HonestConservative]

Those evil big pharm vaccine makers are at it again. sarc

Thanks for the post.

Your always ahead of the curve, neverdem.

[rdb3]

This is good. I believe that HIV and AIDS will be cured eventually (now if they can come up with something for Multiple Sclerosis! But I digress).

I do have a question, however. The behavior that lead many to get infected with HIV won't change, so, what's next? I'm guessing it will be something that makes AIDS seem like a head cold.

If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Also, please see The Backside of American History
You'll love this 187 page .pdf (1.99 MB)

[edcoil]

My brother died of aids in 1995. Prior to that and now there are over 10 different AID/HIV viruses - when one are they saying is fixed because the last time I looked - yesterday, the mutate so fast ther was no fix.

Who is looking for funding now?

[KJC1]

Good news. I hope this research truly leads to a vaccine.

[CGTRWK]

Perhaps if 17 billion federal dollars a year were being spent on Multiple Sclerosis instead of this gay disease, something would have been found already.

[HonestConservative]

"Who is looking for funding now?"

Our best man died in 1985.

Afraid, I don't understand your question.

[rdb3]

Perhaps if 17 billion federal dollars a year were being spent on Multiple Sclerosis instead of this gay disease, something would have been found already.

That may be true, but there are not enough of us with MS (thank God!) to justify that type of funding.

If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Also, please see The Backside of American History
You'll love this 187 page .pdf (1.99 MB)

[HonestConservative]

Guess you are refering to the money the feds are throwing at Africa for Aids prevention and education.

Notice this work, developing an HIV vaccine, is being done by private enterprise.

God help us all if we have to depend on, and wait for gov't for vaccines and treatments.

[Jorge]

Perhaps if 17 billion federal dollars a year were being spent on Multiple Sclerosis instead of this gay disease, something would have been found already.

In case you haven't noticed, AIDS stopped being just a "gay disease" more than a decade ago.

[Moonman62]

Gay men who are interested in volunteering for the HIV vaccine trial can learn more by calling the HIV Vaccine Trials ...

Yet it would still be politically incorrect to say that HIV/AIDS was an epidemic created by the gay male lifestyle.

[babygene]

"Good news. I hope this research truly leads to a vaccine."

It a "lead pipe cinch" that no vaccine is going to make sticking your dong in poop medically safe. People who continue this lifestyle will continue to die... just MHO.

[neverdem]

		National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention

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2003 Surveillance Report  |   Home   |   Index   |   Search   |   Site Map   |   Subscribe

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Table 1.	Estimated numbers of cases of HIV/AIDS, by year of diagnosis and selected characteristics of persons, 2000–2003—33 areas with confidential name-based HIV infection reporting

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	Year of Diagnosis
	2000	2001	2002	2003
Age at diagnosis (yrs)
< 13	196	238	210	161
13—14	36	43	36	50
15—24	3,502	3,568	3,601	3,847
25—34	9,340	8,920	9,001	8,722
35—44	11,312	11,072	11,382	11,299
45—54	4,924	5,179	5,504	5,821
55—64	1,412	1,496	1,614	1,681
>65	439	485	457	466
Race/ethnicity
White, not Hispanic	9,962	9,803	10,214	10,322
Black, not Hispanic	16,257	16,042	16,216	16,165
Hispanic	4,340	4,560	4,833	4,963
Asian/Pacific Islander	177	162	187	273
American Indian/Alaska Native	178	164	185	188
Transmission category   Male adult or adolescent
Male-to-male sexual contact	13,112	13,483	14,355	14,532
Injection drug use	3,539	3,298	3,227	3,189
Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use	1,364	1,302	1,256	1,224
Heterosexual contact	3,876	3,879	3,949	4,041
Othera	172	172	175	168
Subtotal	22,064	22,134	22,963	23,153
Female adult or adolescent
Injection drug use	1,884	1,722	1,621	1,628
Heterosexual contact	6,854	6,770	6,870	6,942
Othera	160	138	142	163
Subtotal	8,899	8,630	8,633	8,733
Child(<13 yrs at diagnosis)
Perinatal	175	218	193	147
Otherb	22	20	17	15
Subtotal	197	238	210	162
Subtotal for 32 states with confidential       name-based HIV infection reporting	31,104	30,953	31,749	31,994
Subtotal for U.S. dependencies, possessions, and       associated nations with confidential name-based       HIV infection reporting	57	49	57	54
Totalc	31,161	31,002	31,805	32,048

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Note.These numbers do not represent reported case counts. Rather, these numbers are point estimates, which result from adjustments of reported case counts. The reported case counts are adjusted for reporting delays and for redistribution of cases in persons initially reported without an identified risk factor. The estimates do not include adjustment for incomplete reporting.

Data include persons with a diagnosis of HIV infection. This includes persons with a diagnosis of HIV infection only, a diagnosis of HIV infection and a later AIDS diagnosis, and concurrent diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS.

Since 1999, the following 33 areas have had laws or regulations requiring confidential name-based HIV infection reporting: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since July 1997, Florida has had confidential name-based HIV infection reporting only for new diagnoses.

a	Includes hemophilia, blood transfusion, perinatal, and risk factor not reported or not identified.
b	Includes hemophilia, blood transfusion, and risk factor not reported or not identified.
c	Includes persons of unknown race or multiple races and persons of unknown sex. Because column totals were calculated independently of the values for the subpopulations, the values in each column may not sum to the column total.

---

2003 Surveillance Report  |   Home   |   Index   |   Search   |   Site Map   |   Subscribe

---

Last Updated : March 8, 2005
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention
Contact Us

[Moonman62]

And your point is?

[neverdem]

And your point is?

Who's getting it and how they're becoming infected in this country for the last few years that numbers are available.

[CGTRWK]

On Multiple Sclerosis:

There are about 400,000 people living with MS in the US. This receives about $100 million a year in federal research money.

Meanwhile, 500,000 people living with AIDS rate over 3 billion a year in federal research money, a billion dollars in free condoms and public relations, 2 billion dollars in subsidized housing and outright grants for patients...

AIDS treatment has been funded out of all proportion to its severity for 20 years now, while the most basic public health measures that would have stopped it in its tracks in the US weren't and still aren't being done. It's the first contagious virus in history with civil rights, and just coincidentally the first contagious virus in the modern era we haven't stopped cold.

On money the feds are throwing away:

Domestic HIV/AIDS specific spending was over 17 billion dollars this year. About half of this goes to subsidizing drugs. This putatively conservative administration has increased that funding 27% since 2001, and Bush's FY06 budget boosts that to 18 billion. Money being thrown at Africa is another 4 billion annually on top of that.

On AIDS being a "gay disease":

Statistically, it's still as gay a disease as ever, albeit with moderate progress in the IV drug addict community. The numbers are right there at the CDC website for anyone to verify for themselves. People who choose not to and buy the gay propaganda version that we're all at risk are only fooling themselves.

[Jorge]

On AIDS being a "gay disease":

Statistically, it's still as gay a disease as ever, albeit with moderate progress in the IV drug addict community. The numbers are right there at the CDC website for anyone to verify for themselves. People who choose not to and buy the gay propaganda version that we're all at risk are only fooling themselves.

Wrong.
The statistics posted here from the CDC website are for the United States ONLY.

Worldwide there are far more people infected than in the US, and the great majority of those are from HETEROSEXUAL transmission.

[HonestConservative]

Although you make excellent points on the gov't money spent on HIV/Aids as compared to other diseases, the numbers can be somewhat deceiving. Different organizations lean toward asking for grant money under their Aids programs, because thats where the money is ,in actuality, much of it is going to segmented aspects of viral research which actuality supports other disease research.

However, that being said, I have no doubt that Aids grant money to individuals well overshadows that given to individuals with other diseases.

How about government gets the heck out of the grant business, period. That way, some of us could keep our money and take better care of ourselves and our families.