Amsterdam researchers progress in AIDS vaccine development

After 17 years of research and hard work, researchers from the Amsterdam Academic Medical Center and the Cornell University in New York have take a major step in the process of developing a vaccine against the AIDS virus. They have managed to create a vaccine that work against two variants of the AIDS virus in animals. By artificially recreating the protein that surround the virus, the research team has managed to generate antibodies that can block infection with two variants of the AIDS virus, NOS reports. There are two important steps in vaccine development, researchers Rogier Sanders explains. "The first step is the generation of these antibodies. The second step is the broadening of the immune response, so that the large number of different virus strains are completely inhibited. HIV is changing all the time. There are many variants of the virus." So far the vaccine has only been tested on animals. These positive results do not necessarily mean that the vaccine will soon be available for humans. "But we now understand this mechanism , and it is therefore a major step in the development of an effective vaccine."