HIV photos may bode ill for vaccine.There is good news and bad news in the quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the an AIDS vaccine AIDS vaccine A hypothetical vaccine intended to either prevent HIV infection or ensure that those infected will not fall victim to AIDS; the most promising vaccine is that using a naked DNA plasmid, reported by Letwin et al in 20/10/00 Science; as of early 2001, . The federal government has given the green light for wide-scale testing of a vaccine produced by VaxGen, a biotech firm in the San Francisco Bay area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay , but some researchers say the vaccine is probably based on faulty assumptions. The trials for the vaccine, known as AIDSvax, will involve 5,000 volunteers at multiple sites around the country. The three-year study will determine how safe the vaccine is and whether it prompts an effective immune response immune response n. An integrated bodily response to an antigen, especially one mediated by lymphocytes and involving recognition of antigens by specific antibodies or previously sensitized lymphocytes. . The vaccine does not use the virus itself but instead is based on a particular protein found on the surface of HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. . In theory that protein will produce antibodies that will attack the virus if it enters the body. The vaccine has undergone limited testing so far, producing an antibody response in 99% of those injected with it. However, two weeks after the vaccine was given clearance, scientists using advanced technology managed for the first time to photograph HIV attacking a cell. The study, by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and New York's Columbia University Columbia University, mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions. , was quickly hailed as a landmark by David Baltimore David Baltimore (b. March 7, 1938) is an American biologist and co-recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is currently the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he was president from 1997 to 2006. , head of a government advisory committee on AIDS vaccines. The photos provided a wealth of information, including how the virus eludes detection by the body with such techniques as cloaking itself in sugar molecules commonly found in the body's proteins. More important, the pictures illustrated that the virus uses not one but two probes to invade CD4 cells. The virus docks first at one site, then quickly reveals a hidden antenna to latch on to the second site before the cell can repel it with an immune response. Some researchers believe the data shows that AIDSvax has little chance of working because the virus manages to evade the kind of direct immune attacks the vaccine is meant to produce. VaxGen executives, though, said they remained confident that the vaccine would be effective. |
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