HIV COULD BE REDUCED TO A MINOR INFECTION

HIV could be reduced to a "minor chronic infection" akin to herpes, scientists developing a new vaccine have claimed. Spanish researchers found that 22 of 24 healthy people (92 per cent) developed an immune response to HIV after being given their MVA-B vaccine. Professor Mariano Esteban, head researcher on the project at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid, said of the jab: "It is like showing a picture of the HIV so that it is able to recognise it if it sees it again in the future." The injection contains four HIV genes which stimulate T and B lymphocytes, which are types of white blood cells. Prof Esteban explained: "Our body is full of lymphocytes, each of them programmed to fight against a different pathogen. "Training is needed when it involves a pathogen, like the HIV one, which cannot be naturally defeated". B cells produce antibodies which attack viruses before they infect cells, while T cells detect and destroy infected cells. The study showed that almost three-quarters of participants had developed HIV-specific antibodies 11 months after vaccination.Over a third developed one type of T cell that fights HIV, called CD4+, while over two-thirds developed another, called CD8+. Overall, 92 per cent developed some sort of immune response. However, that is not the same thing as being protected from HIV infection: the response could be inadequate to provide protection. Prof Esteban acknowledged the vaccine was at an early stage, describing it as "promising".