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# Renaissance Research in AIDS Prevention
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/renaissance_research_in_aids_prevention_070920100213/
- Published: 2010-07-09T15:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T15:43:40.000Z
- Description: NIAID-led researchers identified two human antibodies that neutralized more than 90 percent of HIV strains in the laboratory, against 30 to 40 percent for the best antibodies found earlier, and showed how they work. The technique could be applied to other infectious diseases.
- Author: Rachel Stockton
- Tags: Autoimmune Diseases, Avoiding Illness, #vivvo-import

A breakthrough in HIV vaccine research has led to exciting information released from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases this month.

In their quest to discover an advanced HIV vaccine, researchers from NIAID, scientists from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and the Division of Clinical Research, all in Bethesda, Md.; as well as researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; Columbia University in New York; Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston; The Rockefeller University in New York City; and University of Washington in Seattle, have identified human antibodies that could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection.

Scientists found two potent human antibodies that stopped more than 90% of HIV strains in a laboratory setting; they were also able to demonstrate how these disease-fighting proteins accomplished that feat. The method used to find these antibodies could be applied to isolate therapeutic antibodies for other infectious diseases. Previously, the best antibodies researchers have found block only 30-40% of all HIV strains.

“The discovery of these exceptionally broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV and the structural analysis that explains how they work are exciting advances that will accelerate our efforts to find a preventive HIV vaccine for global use,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the NIAID, National Institutes of Health. “In addition, the technique the teams used to find the new antibodies represents a novel strategy that could be applied to vaccine design for many other infectious diseases.

Lead researcher, Dr. Gary Nabel of NIAID says, "I am more optimistic about an AIDS vaccine at this point in time than I have been probably in the last 10 years.”

Researchers are already testing the antibodies in infected animals with the hope that they will provide synergistic effects when used with antiviral drugs. The ability to incorporate synthetic chemicals that stimulate production of several different antibodies might offer nearly complete protection against HIV.

Indeed, this is good news in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The fact that these antibodies may be found to be useful in fighting a myriad of infectious diseases may prove it to be one of the great medical breakthroughs of this generation.

Everyone must be aware of the risk factors and causes in order to protect yourself against HIV/AIDS.

\*HIV is transmitted most commonly through vaginal, anal or oral sex, infected blood and blood products, needle sharing, accidental needle sticks and from mother to child.

\*Greatest risk factors in contracting HIV/AIDS are unprotected sex with multiple partners, unprotected sex with HIV-positive partner, sharing needles during intravenous drug use, or received a blood transfusion or blood products before 1985.

For a more detailed list and information about HIV/AIDS, visit the Mayo Clinic website.

Laura Lamp King