HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

The University of Maryland's Institute of Human Virology, headed by HIV co-discoverer Dr. Robert Gallo, has been awarded $15 million for AIDS vaccine research from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The five-year grant will be used to develop a vaccine that contains a protein normally hidden within the virus. That protein reveals itself when HIV docks onto a cell to invade it. Unlike outer proteins on HIV that constantly evolve, this protein does not change, said Gallo.

In four monkeys, the experimental vaccine induced antibodies against various HIV strains. "After a period of time, the virus was cleared -- there was no detectable virus in plasma," said Gallo. The virus used to challenge the monkeys was a hybrid of HIV and a similar simian virus. Researchers could only find viral particles in one monkey and only in one tissue sample.

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allo noted, however, that years of research, including in animals and humans, must yet be performed on the vaccine. Last year, the institute spin-off Profectus BioSciences conducted tests on the candidate vaccine. Profectus licensed the vaccine to the drug firm Wyeth, which could begin a human trial next year, Gallo said.

"We're not announcing a breakthrough," said Gallo. "It's interesting, and we believe it's important, but we cannot make any predictions with it."

from the Baltimore Sun