HIV Vaccine Generates Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies in Primates for First Time

A 14-year collaboration between LJI and Scripps Research produces a vaccine that trains the immune system to make rare HIV-fighting antibodies — published in Nature.

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and Scripps Research have achieved something the field has chased for decades: a vaccine that triggers broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV in primates. The results, published in Nature, mark the first time any vaccine has generated a high number of these rare, virus-fighting antibodies in an animal model.

The vaccine uses an approach called "germline targeting" — essentially walking naive B cells through a bootcamp of carefully designed booster shots that teach the immune system to recognize HIV's constantly shifting outer envelope. Around 44 percent of the vaccinated rhesus macaques produced broadly neutralizing antibodies in their blood, an exceptionally high rate for what are normally ultra-rare immune responses.

"What feels like a huge success," said LJI Professor Shane Crotty, who co-led the 14-year collaboration with Scripps Research Professor William Schief. The priming immunogen has already been tested in humans through the HVTN 144 trial, and the IAVI G004 Phase 1 trial is now underway. Plans are advancing to test the full immunization regimen in a future human clinical study.

Sources: La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Nature