
Treatment GuideJust DiagnosedSex & DatingAfrican AmericanStigmaAsk the HIV DocPrEP En EspañolNewsVoicesPrint IssueVideoOut 100
CONTACTCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Scientists who are trying to understand how to make an HIV vaccine have found the cause of a major roadblock to their work. It turns out that the immune system can indeed produce cells with the potential to manufacture powerful HIV-blocking antibodies; at the same time, though, the immune system works equally hard to make sure these cells are eliminated before they even have a chance to mature. 'Our studies show that a potentially protective neutralizing antibody against a viral disease is under the control of immunological tolerance,' says Barton Haynes, MD, director of the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology at Duke University Medical Center. Haynes is the senior author of the study, which appeared online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'This represents a new insight into the way HIV effectively evades detection by the B-cell arm of the immune system and may offer new directions for vaccine design.' Over the years scientists have assumed that B cells -- one of the first lines of defense against infection -- are simply not able to 'see' HIV. The virus has the ability to hide its most vulnerable parts from immune system surveillance, and researchers generally assumed that helped explain why B cells often took weeks and even months to arise following infection. But several years ago Duke researchers hypothesized that the antibodies required to broadly neutralize HIV may not be produced in the first place because the immune system sees them as a potential threat -- because of their similarity to antibodies that promote autoimmune disease -- and destroys them. To see if this is indeed what happens, Laurent Verkoczy, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Duke and the lead author of the study, and Haynes genetically engineered a mouse that could produce only B cells containing a rare but potent broadly neutralizing human antibody that is able to block HIV infection. They found that the mouse's immune system produced plenty of early stage B cells bearing this human neutralizing antibody on their surface but eliminated most of them before they had a chance to fully evolve into mature B cells capable of secreting the antibody. 'This work may mean that we need to think and act very differently in envisioning how a successful vaccine may work,' Verkoczy says. 'The good news is that while about 85% of the 'right' kind of B cells are eliminated, about 15% survive and wind up in circulating blood but are turned off. One goal in vaccine design may be to figure out how to wake them up so that they can go to work.' Adds Haynes: 'We have now unveiled a major reason why members of this class of neutralizing antibodies are not routinely made. Our own immune systems block their production because they are perceived as potentially harmful -- when in reality they are not. This is a very unusual way the virus has developed to evade the immune system.' Haynes says researchers plan on using the new mouse model to test ways to teach the immune system to enable the production of powerful neutralizing antibodies capable of blocking HIV.
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Lexi Love comes out as HIV+ after Trump deletes federal resources
January 23 2025 11:23 AM
Ricky Martin delivers showstopping performance for 2024 World AIDS Day
December 05 2024 12:08 PM
Trump's orders prompt CDC to erase HIV resources
January 31 2025 5:29 PM
California confirms first case of even more deadly mpox strain
November 18 2024 3:02 PM
This long-term HIV survivor says testosterone therapy helped save his life.
December 16 2024 8:00 PM
Plus: Featured Video
Latest Stories
Grindr is reminding us why jockstraps are so sexy and iconic
May 02 2025 5:36 PM
Broadway's best raise over $1 million for LGBTQ+ and HIV causes
April 03 2025 7:15 PM
Season 4 of The Switch on resilience & radical self-love returns this spring
March 26 2025 12:20 PM
BREAKING NEWS: Trump admin moves to end federal HIV prevention programs
March 18 2025 6:10 PM
A camp for HIV-positive kids is for sale. Here's why its founder is celebrating
January 02 2025 12:21 PM
Decades of progress, uniting to fight HIV/AIDS
December 01 2024 12:30 PM
Climate change is disrupting access to HIV treatment
November 25 2024 11:05 AM
HRC holds 'die-in' to protest Trump health care cuts
April 28 2025 2:11 PM
Two right-wing Supreme Court justices signal they may uphold access to PrEP and more
April 21 2025 4:10 PM
The Talk Season 5 premieres this spring with HIV guidance for the newly diagnosed
March 26 2025 1:00 PM
Jess King is here to help you live your happiest, healthiest life yet
March 24 2025 4:35 PM
Gerald Garth is keeping people of color happy and healthy through trying times
March 11 2025 3:38 PM
Tyler TerMeer vows to continue to fight for health care for all
January 28 2025 3:00 PM
'RuPaul's Drag Race' star Trinity K Bonet quietly comes out trans
December 15 2024 6:27 PM
500,000 Children at Risk: PEPFAR Funding Crisis
April 08 2025 3:51 PM
Discover the power of Wellness in your life
March 26 2025 12:41 PM
Celebrating Black History Month with our annual African American issue
February 01 2025 3:28 PM
Plus nominated for 2025 GLAAD Media Award
January 22 2025 12:42 PM
AIDS Memorial Quilt displayed at White House for the first time
December 02 2024 1:21 PM
Hollywood must do better on HIV representation
December 01 2024 9:00 AM