Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have for the first time isolated an important antibody in human serum that could potentially play a key role in the design of an AIDS vaccine.
The Duke researchers say the antibody, never before found in the blood of infected patients, provides a target for vaccine development because previous research has shown it can successfully neutralize 80 percent of transmitted HIV viruses.
Only a small fraction of people with HIV make these antibodies and they typically appear many months after initial transmission of the virus -- at a point when scientists feel it is too late to do much good.
The Duke researchers examined the antibodies in the blood of 300 people infected with HIV and found only one who had developed the rare HIV-fighting antibody.
Scientists now hope to find ways to duplicate or enhance it, so it can be used as a tool to boost the defense system before HIV can proliferate in the body.
The research appears as a highlighted feature online in the Journal of Virology.