Recently, the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom started a first phase clinical trial of a new HIV vaccine candidate in the United Kingdom. The trial, called HIV-CORE 0052, aims to evaluate the safety, tolerance, and immunogenicity of HIVconsvX vaccine, a chimeric vaccine that can target a wide range of HIV mutants, which may be suitable for HIV strains in any geographic region.
The researchers recruited 13 healthy, HIV-negative adult volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 who were not at a high risk of infection. The volunteers were initially given a dose of the vaccine, followed by a booster shot four weeks later. The clinical trial is part of the European AIDS Vaccine Program (EAVI2020), which is an international collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the “Horizon 2020” program.
Tomas Hanke, a professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, said that for 40 years, no effective HIV vaccine has been within the reach for humans. This clinical trial is the first to carry out a series of this new vaccine strategy that is applicable to both the prevention of HIV-negative individuals and the treatment of HIV-positive patients. Most HIV vaccine candidates can work by inducing antibodies produced by the body’s B cells, while HIVconsvX can induce powerful T cells to eliminate pathogens and lock them in a highly conserved and susceptible area of HIV. This is a weakness shared by most HIV mutants.
Paola Cicconi, a senior clinical researcher from the University of Oxford, said that realizing the protection of the body against HIV is extremely challenging, and the core lies in taking advantage of the protective potential of antibodies and T cells. Currently, HIV prevention mainly relys on human behavior and biomedical interventions, such as voluntary medical circumcision for men, the use of condoms, and the use of antiretroviral drugs before sexual contact.
There is strong evidence that undetectable HIV viral load may prevent the spread of HIV. Despite this, the rate of decline in new HIV infections still cannot reach the fast track target agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016, that is, from 2020, the number of new infections each year is less than 500,000.
Even with increased antiretroviral therapy and prevention, the HIV-1 vaccine development is still the best solution and may be a key component of any strategy to end the AIDS epidemic. Researchers hope to report the results of the HIV-CORE 0052 trial by April 2022. In addition, they plan to conduct similar clinical trials in Europe, Africa, and the United States.