Researchers at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford are leading a new clinical trial investigating whether immune-based interventions can enable longer-term immune control of HIV after stopping antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The Oxford-led AbVax trial, funded by the Medical Research Council, is designed to test a central scientific idea: that the immune system can be encouraged to better recognise and control HIV through a combination of broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs, provided by Gilead Sciences, Inc.), therapeutic vaccination and carefully monitored treatment interruption. The study focuses on understanding a proposed ‘vaccinal effect’, in which antibodies not only neutralise the virus but also help stimulate longer-lasting protective immune responses.
“Over the past three decades, antiretroviral therapy has transformed HIV from a fatal infection into a highly manageable long-term condition,” said Dr Paola Cicconi, Chief Investigator at the Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine. “That progress has been extraordinary, but it should not mark the end of scientific ambition. If we are serious about improving long-term outcomes for people living with HIV, we also need to ask whether the immune system itself can be trained to play a more active role in controlling the virus.”
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine website.