Test Aids Vaccine In Africa, Hiv Co-discoverer Montagnier Says
South Africa has more people infected with HIV than any other nation, and is home to the strain of the virus responsible for more than half the worlds cases, according to the New York- based International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
“If a vaccine were to work in South Africa, it will work everywhere,” Montagnier, 77, said in an interview yesterday in Gifu, central Japan. “I would like to see the same kind of trial” in South Africa, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist said.
Results of a study involving more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand announced last month showed a combination of two experimental vaccines cut HIV infections by 31 percent, an achievement that has eluded scientists for a quarter century. While a vaccine would need to provide more than 70 percent protection to be useful, the trial shows that combining shots is the right approach, Montagnier said.
The study coupled two vaccines: ALVAC, made by Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, and AIDSVAX from VaxGen Inc., of South San Francisco, California. Neither had stopped the AIDS-causing virus when tested separately in previous studies.
AIDSVAX contains an HIV protein called gp120 thats designed to encourage the body to produce neutralizing antibodies to recognize and destroy HIV before it can infect healthy cells. ALVAC focuses on increasing cellular responses to attack the virus.
Prime and Boost
The theory behind the combination was that ALVAC would prime the immune system to respond, and AIDSVAX would boost the antibody response, according to the Thai study. While the approach prevented 30 percent of infections, scientists in the study arent sure how it occurred, requiring further research before advances on the technique can be made.
Montagnier said AIDS can be eradicated even without a preventive vaccine. Scientists should focus on developing a so- called therapeutic vaccine that doctors would use in conjunction with antiretroviral drugs to rid patients of HIV and keep it from coming back.
“Of course, every initiative which tries to fight AIDS is good in principle,” Montagnier said.
Still, “many millions” of dollars have been spent on preventative vaccines without success, he said. “There should have been more on the cure, more on the treatment, than vaccines.”
Montagnier is in Japan for several events including the Science and Technology in Society forum in Kyoto city.