|
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
May 18, 2012
Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
May 18, 2012 - There is a growing consensus that we can significantly curtail the HIV/AIDS pandemic by implementing
scientifically proven HIV prevention strategies, such as voluntary medically supervised adult male circumcision, prevention of
mother-to-child transmission and treatment as prevention. With 2.7 million new HIV infections in 2010 alone, however, it is
likely that controlling and ultimately ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic will require an effective vaccine as well. This past
year, there have been a number of encouraging findings on this front.
Last month, a detailed analysis of specimens from the first HIV vaccine clinical trial to show a modest protective effect
yielded important clues about
how the vaccine might have worked. These clues suggest directions for improving upon the original vaccine regimen to
confer a broader, more potent and longer-lasting effect. The original vaccine regimen was tested among 16,000 adult volunteers in
Thailand in a trial co-funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH.
Meanwhile, several other NIAID-sponsored HIV vaccine clinical trials are under way. The largest of these
is examining whether a prime-boost vaccine regimen can prevent HIV infection or reduce the amount of virus in the blood of those
participants who become infected despite vaccination. These trials are possible because of the generous contributions of time
and effort by thousands of study participants, community educators, health care workers and scientists. All those involved
deserve our gratitude.
Preclinical animal model studies of HIV infection recently have uncovered valuable leads toward designing a preventive HIV vaccine.
Scientists have demonstrated that a vaccine can prevent a virulent monkey version of HIV infection and have shown a correlation
between this protection and the presence of specific antibodies to the virus.
In basic HIV vaccine research, scientists are discovering and studying HIV neutralizing antibodies that shield cells in the
lab against infection with a wide array of HIV strains collected from infected people worldwide. Researchers are analyzing
the structure and evolution of these antibodies and the manner in which they bind to HIV, and are using this information
to design new molecules to elicit the antibodies through vaccination. In related experiments, injecting these
antibodies directly into monkeys has been shown to prevent infection from a monkey version of HIV. Based on
these findings, studies to test this concept in people are being planned.
All of these advances reinforce our confidence that one day we will succeed at creating a safe, highly effective vaccine to prevent
HIV infection. To contain and ultimately halt the HIV/AIDS pandemic, even the most effective vaccine must be part of a combination
of medical and behavioral HIV prevention tools. That is why NIAID continues to support research into promising HIV prevention
strategies, such as vaginal and rectal microbicides, pre-exposure
prophylaxis (PrEP) and expanded HIV testing with linkage to care. That is also why the public health community will continue to refine
and implement scientifically proven HIV prevention measures, including condom use, harm-reduction strategies for injection drug
users, and, notably, treatment as
prevention : giving antiretroviral therapy to HIV-infected individuals to dramatically reduce their infectiousness while
protecting their health.
Vaccines historically have been the single most important tool for controlling epidemics. With an ongoing commitment to HIV vaccine
research, we have the potential to radically change the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Media inquiries can be directed to the NIAID Office of Communications at 301-402-1663, niaidnews@niaid.nih.gov.
NIAID conducts and supports research-at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide-to study the causes of infectious and
immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases,
fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at www.niaid.nih.gov .
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH) : NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is
a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic,
clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare
diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
|
