AIDS Vaccine Candidate Appears to Clear Virus from Body

In an exciting development in HIV/AIDS research, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have developed a vaccine candidate that was effective at expelling the virus from a body.

An HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate developed by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University appears to have the ability to completely clear an AIDS-causing virus from the body. The promising vaccine candidate is being developed at OHSU's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. It is being tested through the use of a non-human primate form of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which causes AIDS in monkeys. Following further development, it is hoped an HIV-form of the vaccine candidate can soon be tested in humans. These research results were published online today by the journal Nature.

Unlike other reported AIDS "cures," like the Berlin Patient, this vaccine uses the patient's own immune system to eliminate the virus. This has not been done before.

Human trials may begin in two to three years.