AIDS Vaccine Week articles from February 2003

AIDS Vaccine Week archives from February 2003

Anti-R7V antibodies effective for patients failing HAART.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in France have identified a novel method for treating drug-resistant HIV infection. "Many attempts to use therapeutic antibodies to treat HIV have been unsuccessful owing to the high...

Ritonavir has anticancer effects.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Ritonavir is an HIV protease inhibitor used in the therapy of HIV infection. Ritonavir has also been shown to inhibit the chymotrypsin-like activity of isolated 20S proteasomes," according to recent...

Novel molecular adjuvant improves anti-Env antibody responses.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A novel molecular adjuvant can improve the performance of DNA-based HIV vaccines, researchers in North Carolina report. "DNA vaccines expressing the...

Former WebMD executive producer joins NewsRx.
February 3, 2003... 2003 FEB 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A former WebMD executive producer and medical editor has joined Atlanta-based NewsRx, along with three board-certified editors. Dominique Walton Brooks, MD, with WebMD until 2001, will serve as...

AIDS vaccine developed at Emory, NIH moves to clinical trials.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A vaccine aimed against AIDS, developed at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University, the Emory Vaccine Center, and the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the National Institute of...

Adenovirus vectors effectively deliver MHC class I and II antigens.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Dendritic cells (DCs) are highly specialised antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that are essential for the initiation and modulation of T cell-mediated immune responses," according to recent research...

Combined intrarectal/intradermal inoculation boosts M. bovis-based vaccine efficacy.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Japan have identified a method for improving the protection afforded by Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (rBCG)-based HIV vaccines. An effective rBCG-based vaccine will...

Multicomponent protein vaccine prevents simian disease.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A multicomponent vaccine protects animals from the effects of the simian version of HIV (SIV), researchers say. "Recombinant protein subunit AIDS vaccines...

Synthetic AIDS vaccine targets HIV coreceptors.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "A class of synthetic peptide immunogens for the cell surface HIV receptor complex has been developed to elicit antibodies that block viral entry by inhibiting gp120-CD4 interaction," according to...

Two vaccine candidates safe in animals, ready for human trials.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two potential HIV vaccines are ready for preliminary human trials, researchers in the United Kingdom report. T. Hanke and colleagues at John Radcliffe Hospital investigated the "toxicity,...

Virion-based vaccine protects animals against disease.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A DNA vaccine containing viral particles prevents many symptoms of infection in primates exposed to the simian version of HIV (SIV), researchers in Maryland...

Evolutionary phage peptide library yields Cryptococcus vaccine.
February 10, 2003... 2003 FEB 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Cryptococcus neoformans causes a life-threatening meningoencephalitis in a significant percentage of AIDS patients," according to a study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City....

Antibodies can enhance antigen cross presentation.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "By using the dominant simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag Mamu-A01 restricted major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I epitope p11CM," researchers in the United States have demonstrated...

Maleimide clusters useful as antiviral peptide templates.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a novel method for generating HIV peptides for treatment and vaccine studies. L. X. Wang and coauthors described "a facile synthesis of...

MSH derivatives may serve as leads for antiviral therapeutics.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from the United States, "Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase (HIV-1 IN) is an essential enzyme for effective viral replication. Therefore, IN inhibitors are being...

Salmonella-based priming improves mucosal antiviral response.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A Salmonella-based antigen delivery system may enhance the performance of HIV vaccines, researchers say. "Nearly all human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)...

Effects of viral protein modifications on immunogenecity characterized.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States have provided new insight into the effects of HIV protein modifications on vaccine performance. Indresh K. Srivastava and...

VaxGen hopes AIDS vaccine trial results warrant FDA filing but skeptics abound.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the maker of what would be the first vaccine for AIDS prepares to release key test results, some stock traders are betting against its success. AIDS activists have been debating its merits for a...

Company reiterates that it does not yet know phase III trial results.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VaxGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:VXGN) reiterated on January 22, 2003, that it plans to announce the results of its first AIDSVAX phase III trial before the end of March 2003. The company does not yet know...

DC-SIGN gene family variations seen between human and nonhuman primates.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Two CD209 family genes identified in humans, CD209 (DC-SIGN) and CD209L (DC-SIGNR/L-SIGN), encode C-type lectins that serve as adhesion receptors for ICAM-2 and ICAM-3 and participate in the...

N-linked glycan g15 in gp120 V3 loop blocks neutralizing antibodies.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Germany have shed new light on the role of some HIV protein components in preventing the effects of neutralizing antibodies. S. Polzer and colleagues at the Bernhard Nocht Institute...

Artificial SH3 domains tightly bind SIV Nef.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "The simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Nef protein contains a consensus Src-homology 3 (SH3) binding motif," according to a recent study from Finland. "However, no SH3-domain proteins showing strong...

CD4 binding site antibodies block gp120-CCR5 interaction.
February 17, 2003... 2003 FEB 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in the United States have identified a group of antibodies which disrupt key interactions between the HIV coat protein and cellular receptors used for viral entry. The HIV "gp120...

Effective antibody combinations identified.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States have identified a series of human monoclonal antibody (hMAb) combinations which may be useful in HIV vaccine design. ...

Oral freeze-dried vaccine effective in animals.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Japan have developed a novel oral HIV vaccine that shows promise in animal studies. Oral immunization is "generally considered the most...

Fighting fire with fire? Vaccine based on chimp virus shows promise against HIV.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a new study in mice, a modified form of an innocuous chimpanzee virus has shown marked potency as a protective vaccine against HIV, itself believed to have crossed into the human population from...

Adjuvanted multicomponent protein vaccine prevents AIDS in rhesus monkeys.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from Belgium and the United States, "Recombinant protein subunit AIDS vaccines have been based predominantly on the virus envelope protein. Such vaccines elicit...

HIV-1 subtype B and CRF01_AE variants increasing in Singapore.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "The rapid spread of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) circulating recombinant form (CRF) 01_AE throughout Asia demonstrates the dynamic nature of emerging epidemics. To further...

Power of antibodies against HIV underestimated.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a study from the United States, "Successes for neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) include potent cross-clade neutralization of primary virus...

Prototype informed consent process effective.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States have developed a program to ensure that people taking part in HIV vaccine studies have the knowledge needed for their ethical...

SIV macaque model useful for developing treatment strategies for HIV-1 in humans.
February 24, 2003... 2003 FEB 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research from the United States, "Studies in the SIVmac macaque model have demonstrated that the extent of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses induced by vaccination prior...