A promising new vaccine that employs a two-punch strategy to combat the HIV virus received preliminary laboratory recognition and is ready for further development before it can be used on humans, a joint project between Academia Sinica and the US' Scripps Research Institute said yesterday.
The study, led by Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (
Past attempts to combat HIV -- the virus responsible for AIDS -- by increasing patient immunity have failed clinically, Wong said, but the new vaccine tackles the problem in a different way with synthetic chemicals called "glycodendrons."
Glycodendrons have a two-fold function, Wong said. They inhibit the HIV from entering the body through its traditional route and trigger an immune antibody response to a specific carbohydrate structure on the HIV surface to stop the infection from spreading.
innovative
The innovative vaccine capitalizes on two recent findings in HIV research, Wong said.
"First, it was discovered that after entering human bodies through sexual contact, HIV evades immune detection and reaches its targets -- immune T-cells in the lymphoid system -- by latching onto the human immunity system fighters, dendritic cells," he said
The location for HIV attachment was a receptor protein known as DC-SIGN, found on the cells' surface, he said.
Second is an extremely rare antibody called 2G12 found in some Austrians that kept them healthy after HIV infection, Liang Pi-hui (梁碧惠), one of the group's researchers, told the Taipei Times.
prevention
"When HIV enters the body, 2G12 triggers infection prevention mechanisms when the antibody binds with a dense sugar cluster found on the HIV surface," she said.
"When we built a dendron structure that mimicked 2G12, so that this antibody response could be triggered in lab rats, we found that the structure also bound with the DC-SIGN, preventing the HIV from latching onto it," she said.
The next stage of experiments would involve testing the vaccine on different strains of HIV and evaluating potential preventive strategies, she said.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
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