Scientists shift vaccine strategy in fight against AIDS virus

[Forkboy]

Hopeful results found with gene injected in muscle

WASHINGTON - Stymied in their attempts to develop a vaccine, some scientists are now trying to outflank the HIV/AIDS virus.

Researchers have not been able to develop vaccines that cause the body's immune system to battle the virus, so they are testing inserting a gene into the muscle that can cause it to produce protective antibodies.

The new method worked in mice and now has proved successful in monkeys, researchers reported yesterday in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The team is led by Dr. Philip R. Johnson of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

That doesn't mean an AIDS vaccine for people is in the wings, Johnson said. Years of work may lie ahead before a product is ready for human use.

Nevertheless, the report was welcomed by Dr. Beatrice Hahn, an AIDS researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was not part of Johnson's team. "It basically shows there is light at the end of the tunnel," she said in a telephone interview.

"It shows thinking outside the box is a good idea and can yield results, and we need perhaps more of these nonconventional approaches," she added.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/18/scientists_shift_vaccine_strategy_in_fight_against_aids_virus/