New target for HIV vaccine found

The fusion peptide is a new region of interest for HIV vaccine development, researchers say.

HIV budding out of an immune cell
The figures show that while the number of people dying from HIV/AIDS has declined over the past ten years, the number of people living with the condition has increased

NIAID / Wikimedia Commons

Some people infected with HIV naturally produce broadly neutralising antibodies (bnAbs) against the virus. One strategy for vaccine development is to elicit the production of specific bnAbs from uninfected individuals, which would protect against HIV infection. 

US researchers, reporting in Science (online, 13 May 2016)[1]
, studied an HIV-infected person who produced potent bnAbs, but they hadn’t yet been able to identify the region of the virus recognised by the antibodies. 

By isolating the most potent bnAb from this person, they found that it binds to the viral fusion peptide of HIV-1. This region plays a vital role in allowing the virus to gain entry to cells by helping it fuse with the cell membrane. 

The researchers say they are therefore exploring the fusion peptide as a new region of interest for HIV vaccine development.


References

[1] Kong R, Xu K, Zhou T et al. Fusion peptide of HIV-1 as a site of vulnerability to neutralizing antibody. Science 2016;352:828-833. doi: 10.1126/science.aae0474

Last updated
Citation
Clinical Pharmacist, CP, June 2016, Vol 8, No 6;8(6):DOI:10.1211/PJ.2016.20201162

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