Swiss researchers have unveiled new findings about HIV antibodies in the hope of paving the way to vaccine development.
About 1% of people have been found to have natural immunity against the disease through the production of antibodies, the researchers say.
These antibodies are also effective against other HIV strains, report a team led by Professor Huldrych Gunthard of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
The team report the findings from a close look at these ‘broadly neutralising HIV antibodies’.
These antibodies bind to structures on the surface of the virus. The structures are identical in different viral strains, say the team, and are the only surface structures that stem from the HIV virus itself and can be attacked by the immune system via antibodies.
Tests were carried out on about 4,500 people infected with HIV taking part in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the Zurich Primary HIV Infection Study. Of these participants, 239 formed such antibodies.
The researchers measured the number of viruses present in each participant’s body, the diversity of the virus types, and the duration of untreated HIV infection. All these factors affect antibody formation.
Professor Gunthard says: “Our study enabled us to show for the first time that each of these three parameters influences the development of broadly neutralising antibodies independently of each other. So we don’t necessarily have to consider all three parameters in designing an HIV vaccine.
“This is especially important with regard to the length of vaccine administration – it wouldn’t be possible to imitate a longer untreated HIV infection with a vaccine.”
The team also discovered that black HIV patients form these antibodies more frequently than white people, regardless of the three factors measured.
“We need to understand more precisely what significance and impact the genetic, geographical and socio-economic factors of people from different ethnicities have on the formation of these antibodies,” the researchers conclude in Monday’s (26 September) Nature Medicine.
Rusert, P. et al. Determinants of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibody induction. Nature Medicine 26 September 2016 doi: 10.1038/nm.4187 [abstract]
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