Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - August 11, 2009
U.S. scientists say conventional AIDS vaccine strategies shouldn't be the only plans of action considered in the fight against the disease.
Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, located at Emory University, said their proposal is based on studies involving simian immunodeficiency viruses in African non-human primates.
"Developing an effective AIDS vaccine has eluded scientists because the virus is tricky," said Dr. Guido Silvestri, a Yerkes affiliate scientist and director of clinical virology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Silvestri, along with Dr. James Else, associate director for veterinary resources at Yerkes, noted that more than 25 years after the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus as the etiological agent of AIDS, no effective vaccine for the disease is available.
The scientists liken the conventional vaccine strategy to using military might to destroy an enemy -- the virus. A less conventional strategy, Silvestry said, might be to persuade the enemy not to attack at all.
Such alternative strategies could include development of AIDS vaccines that make infected individuals resistant to disease progression or resistant to the virus by reducing the number of cells the virus can infect, he said.
The proposal appears as a commentary featured in the journal Nature Medicine.
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