Controversial Oral Vaccine Said To Induce Immune Response.(Brief Article)

2002 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Thailand say that a controversial vaccine can reduce viral populations and raise immune cell counts in HIV patients.

Vichai Jirathitikal and colleagues at the Immunitor Corporation in Chachoengsao and the Salang Bunnag Foundation in Bangkok conducted a study to "evaluate the safety and efficacy of an orally available, therapeutic HIV vaccine (V-1 Immunitor) in patients who were not treated with antiviral drugs."

Jiranthitikal and coauthors claimed that the vaccine raised CD4 and CD8 cell counts and enhanced their virus-killing abilities although many researchers and government officials remain skeptical of their reports.

V-1 Immunitor has set off a firestorm of controversy in Thailand, where it has been distributed to AIDS patients free of charge. Although Jiranthitikal and coworkers have not revealed the exact contents of the vaccine, it has been described as a mixture of calcium, magnesium, and inactivated HIV antigens, which are designed to stimulate mucosal intraepithelial lymphocytes in the gut where the infection is thought to originate.

Therapy-naive AIDS patients treated with V-1 Immunitor achieved significant increases in CD4 and CD8 cell populations after 27 weeks, according to the report. Study participants also reported an average weight gain of 2.2 kilograms, or just under ...