Aids vaccine,....
Little details,...likely patents pending, but interesting news given who it is coming from. Results are from a mouse platform so it may not translate to humans, but they discuss combining two treatments, immunization with deactivated aids virus, combined with an immune stimulator, and injection in a mucous membrane.
Now if the buggers would just provide the details!
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Important Canadian Breakthrough in HIV Vaccine Research
MONTREAL, Oct. 7 /CNW/ - CANVAC is proud to announce that one of its
researchers, Dr. Kenneth L. Rosenthal, and his team have discovered that mice
immunized in the nose with inactivated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
particles plus a novel immune stimulator (adjuvant) are protected from genital
infection with a model virus expressing one of the HIV proteins.
This discovery, published in the most recent issue of the internationally
recognized Journal of Infectious Diseases, is the key to CANVAC's HIV vaccine
development program. Indeed, HIV infection is largely a sexually transmitted
disease, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic is having
devastating effects. Currently there is no vaccine to prevent HIV
transmission. This discovery suggests that an HIV vaccine administered through
a mucosal surface, the nose for example, may protect from infection at another
distant mucosal surface such as the genital tract.
CANVAC researchers will soon use this animal model to test which vaccine
preparation or combination of vaccine preparations better protects mice from a
genital infection with a recombinant model virus. The vaccine preparations
deemed to better protect the mice from infection with the model virus will
then be tested in small phase I clinical trials in humans to determine their
safety. If successful, the same preparations will be used in larger phase II
and III clinical trials both in Canada and in Africa to confirm their safety
and assess how well they work.
The Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics (CANVAC) is a
unique network of 74 of the most highly recognized Canadian scientists
specializing in the fields of immunology, virology, and molecular biology, who
are affiliated with 25 Canadian universities and research institutes. CANVAC
scientists, in collaboration with 22 corporate partners, as well as interested
government departments and agencies, and several patient and consumer groups,
are working towards the development of safe and effective vaccines to protect
and treat Canadians and people around the world from cancer and life-
threatening viral infections, including those caused by HIV and hepatitis C
virus. As a Network of Centres of Excellence hosted by the Université de
Montréal, CANVAC is supported by an annual grant of $4.7 million from the
Government of Canada, along with substantial investments from its private
sector partners.
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For further information: Aline Rinfret, PhD, Associate Scientific
Director, CANVAC, Tel.: (514) 288-0591, Aline.Rinfret@umontreal.ca; Kenneth
L. Rosenthal, PhD, Professor, McMaster University, Tel.: (905) 525-9140,
ext. 22375, rosenthl@mcmaster.ca |
