HIV antibody discovery small step toward vaccine

The research is among the most significant developments in the battle to create a vaccine for HIV since a finding last year by researchers in Thailand that one vaccine appeared to slow the rate of infection by 30 percent.

The discovery "will accelerate our efforts to find a preventive HIV vaccine for global use," said Anthony Fauci, M.D., the head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services' research arm focusing on allergies and infectious diseases.

In their research, scientists said they were able to discover how one of the discovered antibodies, known as VRC01, works and find precisely where it attaches to the virus, a key development.

Researchers have had difficulty finding a vaccine for HIV because of the virus' constantly changing surface.

"The antibodies attach to a virtually unchanging part of the virus, and this explains why they can neutralize such an extraordinary range of HIV strains," said John Mascola, M.D., one of the scientists leading the research.

Vaccine-designing scientists are exploring how they can identify components that could guide the immune system through the same process which makes VRC01 so effective.

"The discoveries we have made may overcome the limitations that have long stymied antibody-based HIV vaccine design," said Peter Kwong, another scientist involved in the discovery.

Over 33 million adults worldwide are living with HIV, according to 2006 U.N. statistics. A 2007 report by the organization found that the majority of infected individuals were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus affects more than 10 percent of the population in nations such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

There were 1.1 million adults in the United States infected with the virus, according to the U.N.