A simple HIV vaccine may successfully help to treat Aids, European researchers reported last night.
Researchers in Spain and France have worked together on the project, which involves vaccinating cells removed from patients’ bodies.
The study, involving some 36 patients, showed the treatment could stimulate the immune system to combat HIV.
The researchers say the treatment seemed to help prevent the virus replicating. And vaccination also seemed "safe."
But, they report in Science Translational Medicine, they do not yet know how much vaccine is needed for effective treatment.
The project involved using heat to inactivate the virus in the laboratory.
The researchers removed cells known as dendritic cells from patients and exposed these to the inactivated virus. The cells play a key role in triggering white blood cells to act against invading viruses – but in the case of HIV can end up destroying the cells instead because of the infection.
The treated cells were returned to the patients and the new "vaccine" successfully prevented this happening, the researchers say.
Researcher Dr Felipe Garcia, of the University of Barcelona, Spain, said it was "the first step".
"The vaccine is able to significantly counter viral replication associated with an increase in immune response," he said.
The Spanish researchers worked with a French team at Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, and at the research institute INSERM.
Science Translational Medicine 2 January 2013
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