Clinical trials are underway in Denmark, where researchers at the Aarhus University Hospital are using a 'novel approach' to fight the HIV virus. The latest testing comes as a U.S. trial first started in 2009 to prevent HIV infection was halted last week. Comments (31)
By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, April 28, 2013, 11:21 AM
Tsipos/Dreamstime
A clinical trial in Denmark to fight HIV is the latest attempt to find an elusive cure for the virus.
Danish scientists claim they’re on the brink of a “promising” breakthrough to cure HIV.
Researchers at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark said they're now conducting clinical trials on humans using a “novel strategy” that has worked in lab tests, London’s The Telegraph reported.
The announcement comes just days after the U.S. government said it is halting a large study on creating an AIDS vaccine because experimental shots failed to prevent infection.
The Danish trial uses a treatment that forces the HIV virus from so-called reservoirs it forms in DNA cells, bringing the virus to the surface, according to The Telegraph.
Once the virus is exposed, the body’s natural immune system can destroy it with the help of a vaccine.
While the procedure appeared to work using human cells in a lab, whether it will prove successful in a human body remains to be seen, said Dr. Ole Sogaard, a senior researcher at Aarhus.
“The challenge will be getting the patients’ immune system to recognize the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems,” Sogaard told The Telegraph.
RELATED: AIDS VACCINE MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALIZATION
Fifteen people have been signed up for the trial, which was awarded a new round of funding from the Danish Research Council worth about $2.1 million.
Similar research is being conducted in Britain through a collaboration of five universities focusing on people who only recently were diagnosed with HIV.
Sogaard said that the research in Denmark would be a cure for those already infected, but wouldn’t prevent HIV or AIDS.
Finding a cure — one that is also widely accessible and affordable to the public — took a hit in the United States when experimental shots failed to reduce the amount of the AIDS virus in the blood, the National Institutes of Health said.
“It’s disappointing,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIH’s National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But, he said, “There was
important information gained.”
The study enrolled 2,504 volunteers, mostly gay men, in 19 cities beginning in 2009. Half received dummy shots, and half received a two-part experimental vaccine developed by the NIH. All were provided free condoms and given extensive counseling about the risks for HIV.
It’s a strategy known as “prime-boost.” A DNA-based vaccine made with genetically engineered HIV material is given to prime the immune system to attack the AIDS virus. Then a different vaccine, encasing the same material inside a shell made of a disabled cold virus, acts as a booster shot to strengthen that response. Neither vaccine could cause HIV.
RELATED: BABY CURED OF HIV, RESEARCHERS SAY
The idea: Train immune cells known as T cells to spot and attack the very earliest HIV-infected cells in someone’s body. The hope was that the vaccine could either prevent HIV infection, or help those infected anyway to fight it.
A safety review last week found that slightly more study participants who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV. It’s not clear why. But the difference wasn't statistically significant, meaning it may be due to chance. Overall, there were 41 HIV infections in the vaccinated group and 30 among placebo recipients.
When researchers examined only participants diagnosed after being in the study for at least 28 weeks — long enough for the shots to have done their job — there were 27 HIV infections among the vaccinated and 21 among the placebo recipients.
The NIH said Thursday that it is stopping vaccinations in the study, known as HVTN 505, but that researchers will continue to study the volunteers’ health.
Multiple attempts at creating an AIDS vaccine have failed over the years. A 2009 study in Thailand is the only one ever to show a modest success, using a somewhat different prime-boost approach. Newer research suggests another approach — to try creating powerful antibodies that could work a step earlier than the T-cell attack, before HIV gets inside the first cell.
Both approaches need continued research funding, said Mitchell Warren of the international AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.
“Clearly an AIDS vaccine remains critical,” he said.
With News Wire Services
eortiz@nydailynews.com
Researchers at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark said they're now conducting clinical trials on humans using a “novel strategy” that has worked in lab tests, London’s The Telegraph reported.
The announcement comes just days after the U.S. government said it is halting a large study on creating an AIDS vaccine because experimental shots failed to prevent infection.
The Danish trial uses a treatment that forces the HIV virus from so-called reservoirs it forms in DNA cells, bringing the virus to the surface, according to The Telegraph.
Once the virus is exposed, the body’s natural immune system can destroy it with the help of a vaccine.
While the procedure appeared to work using human cells in a lab, whether it will prove successful in a human body remains to be seen, said Dr. Ole Sogaard, a senior researcher at Aarhus.
“The challenge will be getting the patients’ immune system to recognize the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems,” Sogaard told The Telegraph.
RELATED: AIDS VACCINE MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALIZATION
Fifteen people have been signed up for the trial, which was awarded a new round of funding from the Danish Research Council worth about $2.1 million.
Similar research is being conducted in Britain through a collaboration of five universities focusing on people who only recently were diagnosed with HIV.
Sogaard said that the research in Denmark would be a cure for those already infected, but wouldn’t prevent HIV or AIDS.
Finding a cure — one that is also widely accessible and affordable to the public — took a hit in the United States when experimental shots failed to reduce the amount of the AIDS virus in the blood, the National Institutes of Health said.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A health educator massages a drop of blood from a man's finger while conducting an HIV test at the Whitman-Walker Health Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center last year
The study enrolled 2,504 volunteers, mostly gay men, in 19 cities beginning in 2009. Half received dummy shots, and half received a two-part experimental vaccine developed by the NIH. All were provided free condoms and given extensive counseling about the risks for HIV.
It’s a strategy known as “prime-boost.” A DNA-based vaccine made with genetically engineered HIV material is given to prime the immune system to attack the AIDS virus. Then a different vaccine, encasing the same material inside a shell made of a disabled cold virus, acts as a booster shot to strengthen that response. Neither vaccine could cause HIV.
RELATED: BABY CURED OF HIV, RESEARCHERS SAY
The idea: Train immune cells known as T cells to spot and attack the very earliest HIV-infected cells in someone’s body. The hope was that the vaccine could either prevent HIV infection, or help those infected anyway to fight it.
A safety review last week found that slightly more study participants who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV. It’s not clear why. But the difference wasn't statistically significant, meaning it may be due to chance. Overall, there were 41 HIV infections in the vaccinated group and 30 among placebo recipients.
When researchers examined only participants diagnosed after being in the study for at least 28 weeks — long enough for the shots to have done their job — there were 27 HIV infections among the vaccinated and 21 among the placebo recipients.
The NIH said Thursday that it is stopping vaccinations in the study, known as HVTN 505, but that researchers will continue to study the volunteers’ health.
Multiple attempts at creating an AIDS vaccine have failed over the years. A 2009 study in Thailand is the only one ever to show a modest success, using a somewhat different prime-boost approach. Newer research suggests another approach — to try creating powerful antibodies that could work a step earlier than the T-cell attack, before HIV gets inside the first cell.
Both approaches need continued research funding, said Mitchell Warren of the international AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.
“Clearly an AIDS vaccine remains critical,” he said.
With News Wire Services
eortiz@nydailynews.com
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