A Therapeutic HIV Vaccine within Five Years?

While the list of strong and effective cocktails to treat HIV continues to grow, and more and more discoveries are being made that dramatically – and positively – impact the lifespan of those with HIV and AIDS, the hope for a vaccine – and, especially, a vaccine that has therapeutic effects – has remained just that:  a hope.

Well, perhaps not for too much longer.

Luc Montagnier (pictured), who is this year’s winner (as part of a team) of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in discovering HIV, has announced that he believes it is “a matter of four or five years” until a therapeutic HIV vaccine is developed.

A therapeutic vaccine would be used on people already infected with HIV, while a preventative vaccine would be used on people not yet infected.  A therapeutic vaccine would be a tremendous step forward in treating people already infected, with the possibility of reversing the infection itself, at least to a great degree.

Dr. Montagnier has announced no specific studies or vaccine trials in this area.  Rather, these comments seem to reflect a broader view of what the state of research and clinical facts are in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and research.

In the meantime, people with HIV will continue to look to the current – and ever growing realm – of treatments for life-sustaining help.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Comments

[hivgay]

Whatever, when you get HIV it's .......I don't want to see this word anymore.......
........ I must say that I am cute.
But I got HIV 6 months ago. I had to date singles living with HIV on stdslove.com.
Thank god, I finally met someone!!

never lose hope

[Carl]

His remarks would be nice if they were based in science. The showboater is just trying to create a stir by playing on people's hopes. Use condoms dudes.

[Derrick]

A cure in 4 or 5 years would be amazing, almost brings tears to my eyes.. To be able to get rid of a virus that has haunted people for centuries with no cure in sight. With those who have it to be ridiculed and treated like they dident even exist. Being HIV Poz for 5 years now back in 2004 and Staying Strong that they will find a Cure for those Infected. So that the people HIV poz can finally break free from this cruel mask and a release a new fond enjoyment of life instead of believing they are going to kick the bucket at a young age. Theres been plenty of Speculations on a cure and people saying that the Drug companies would lose money because they wouldent have the drugs to make money on, or that there will never be a Cure to keep this world in balance. I hope theres a cure so that people wouldn't fear anymore and be treated as an equal, People lets be alot more optimistic and have hope and Faith.. I dont know if you like being HIV poz but I would give everything I owned to be Negative again. That is all Ive got to say.. I pray for a cure so that millions of people like myself dont have to suffer anymore.

[PissedOffDAME]

Working in an ID clinic/lab, this is what we have now, just managing the disease .. again, false sense of security .. the title of my seminars is .. WRAP THAT RASCAL! .. we give out condoms for free like M&M's traveling to inner city neighborhoods .. it's our duty to STOP the spread.

[the_real_sweedie]

why are you all being so negative?? I've read numerous reports that this is getting closer and closer to reality. For one thing, someone has already been cured of the virus through a bone marrow transplant, there are also techniques being developed that uses lasers to break the outer shell of the virus and it can then be treated, and the vaccine is getting closer and closer to being finished. A LOT of progress has been done in this field, you just have to know where to get your info about it.

[Bob]

This is fantastic news! In the meantime, use safer sex practices.

[Monsterousmnstr]

We've heard this before.

[spatula6]

Not to sound too cynical, but does anyone remember how in 1984 the world was promised a vaccine in two years' time?

Or in 1997 when it was "within the next decade?"

While it would be fantastic if Montagnier is proven right, I think it would be unwise to hold one's breath.

[teka_teki]

This would be a great thing if were actually to come true. Except for the preventative vaccine. If people got this shot, then less people would most likely stop having safe sex.

[Rain City Blues]

A vaccine sounds unlikely. And the recent attempt at a vaccine that resulted in higher susceptibility to HIV makes me distrust it even more. I hope it will happen anyway, even if I have my doubts.

Treatment is not a viable approach, and vaccination really is the only way this epidemic will be eliminated. Public Health Education programs have not displayed success, either in the North American gay community or the African heterosexual community. The pills cost $$$ and don't always work, have nasty side effects and their effectiveness can change over time. At best they can buy you 20 years, and those are not illness-free years.

So I sure do hope he's right. Because if we don't get a vaccine, the future is not looking very good.

[Chris]

This would be a great thing if were actually to come true. Except for the preventative vaccine. If people got this shot, then less people would most likely stop having safe sex.

Posted by: teka_teki

Hmmmm. Anyone who stopped having unsafe sex because he had gotten a vaccine would be declaring, besides the fact that he had complete trust in the vaccine's efficacy, that he had no worries about syphilis, or Hepatitis, or Gonnoreah, or any of the many other nasty things out there. But I hardly think that the tendency of some people to relax too much would make a bad thing out of something that, if it happened, would be fantastic.

RainCityBlues is being unduly negative when he says "At best they can buy you 20 years, and those are not illness-free years." There are lots of people who live far longer than twenty more years with the meds. And there are also many people who manage the side-effects quite well. I think you've read the worst-case scenarios and confused them with the best case.

[Bob]

Real_sweedie: Your a crackpot. No one has been cured of HIv by bone marrow transplant if that were the case don't you think it'd be in the works right now for everyone carrying the HIV virus.

Treating the virus with a laser - another crack pot crap shot. The virus also lays dormant in other tissue not just the blood, once infected it's there, no laser is going to remove it, do you even comprehend how stupid your statement is or how stupid the idea of using a laser to crack the shells of the virus?

People your best source for information on HIV is the CDC website. Not what crack pots post in blogs.

[Brandon]

Bob, where do you get your information from. Yes, the virus was effectively eliminated and the person was cured of AIDS by a bone marrow transplant. This is the third known instance of this happening. However, it is not a viable option for the world as a whole because the bone-marrow has to be from a matching donor that has a certain genetic mutation on some of his white blood cells. There are people of Western European decent that are immune to the virus; however, it does not mean that it can't reside in the lymphatic tissue. It only means that the virus cannot hijack their immune system the way it does for others. Lastly, the point about the lasers is that they can break the outer shell of the virus in a lab, not while it resides in a person's skin or other tissues. What they are hoping for is that they can break the outer shell of the virus, in hopes of being able to insert genetic material to use virus to replicate and kill off the rest of the viral cells within the body. But they cannot yet break this outer shell without killing the virus. Bob, you need to do more reading and critical thinking rather than be negative and bitter.

[the_real_sweedie]

Bob

Thanks for calling me names, real mature...

Bone marrow transplant cured HIV virus: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7726118.stm

Laser treatment could kill HIV:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7071750.stm

So before you start calling me a crack pot, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

[Chris]

Bob,

I don't know anything about the laser thing but realswindle is correct about the bone marrow transplant; it happened recently. The reason it's not in the works right now for everyone with HIV is 1. It's extremely dangerous--the bone marrow transplant has a high chance of not being successful (I think they kiss one third of the people who geth them); and 2. it's not easy to get--you think there are that many willing donors out there? And it can't be just any donor--you'd have to get your bone marrow from someone who had a rare genetic resistance to HIV. Check this out for more information.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3448558/Doctor-cures-HIV-with-bone-marrow-transplant.html

Now, of course to that extent the bone-marrow-transplant thing means very little, and as I said I don't know about the laser thing. But reelswindle's point is that we're learning new things every day and there are lots of interesting developments that could well point towards a cure or a vaccine. It seems more hopeful (alas!) than finding a cure for cancer in the near future.

One more thing---don't be so free to call people crackpots.

[Chris]

Oh, sorry for calling "real_sweedie" "real_swindle"--that was unintentional.

[Wayne]

Bob: You don't use Google much, do you? Maybe you should do a little research before shooting your mouth off about how stupid other people sound:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27683001/

[Chris]

And in the same comment I said "kiss" when I meant "kill"--man I need to wake up properly before I write comments.

[the_real_sweedie]

Thanks for backing me up on this, I really wonder how old Bob is...

And yes Chris, that was my point exactly, why be negative when good news are presented to you? Progress has been made and is still being made about this disease, don't kill people's hopes, one can live a long time on that alone...

And lol, that was kinda funny, real_swindle :)

[Jeff]

I just finished with a molecular biology class, where I did a presentation on a protein called TRIM 22. The TRIM family is a series of proteins produced by all mammals to help fight retroviruses; specifically, TRIM 22 is made by primates (humans included) to fight HIV. It's potential use was discovered at the University of Alberta Canada (if memory serves) in February of this year. Although just in cell culture studies at this point, if successful in animal and then human studies, this could, in theory, be made into an injection for human use. The protein works by blocking a protein that HIV creates/uses to leave a CD4 cell, thereby stopping HIV from infecting other cells. Do a search on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ (National Centers for Biotechnical Information). It's a great source for science journals related to any medical issue you can think of!

[Sam]

I don't think there will ever be a vaccine. People make too much money off the HIV/AIDS theory. Just imagine the millions of people who will lose their jobs and the billions of funding that will be lost! An HIV cure would cause its own recession!

[Jim]

Good God!!! Do you people have to be catty even in a discussion like this? Calling each other names and attacking each other is so immature, yet thats all I see now anymore.

[Todd]

I am all for a "Cure". If anyone currently infected (a horrible word IMO) has even the slightest chance to reverse negative effects, a big Hoorah to that. However, I'm NOT for a PREVENATIVE measure against the HIV Virus... that will just lead people to believe that unprotected sex is now safe and can be opening themselves up to mutating versions of various other STDs... I can see it leading to a new "Crisis" on a different STD. Work on a Cure, Not a Reason to give people the feeling they can have sex unprotected.

[Chris]

Dude, it would be the same thing! Don't you think the knowledge that there was a cure out there would be just as likely to lead people to be careless as the fact of there having been a vaccine? That's the way guys behaved before AIDS came along--they didn't worry about syphilis etc. because they could always just go to the VD clinic and get cured.

And I must say to wish for there not to be a vaccine because you don't want people having unsafe sex is pretty sick. Considering how many people are having unsafe sex even now it seems pretty unavoidable. If the knowledge of many other diseases besides HIV and the real possibility of something new isn't enough to dissuade people from having unsafe sex, nothing will be.

[Jeremy]

Geez people, be a little more pesimistic(sp)? The gay community can be so cynical at times. The medical community has made amazing strides in a short period of time regarding HIV, and I am confident that what this article states will come to pass in the very near future. I've had HIV for 5 years now, and only became sick once before starting medication. Now I am completely healthy, never any complications. All this with one pill a day (I know it has multi med's in it). This is amazing in compairson to where we were not so long ago. Compare the progression in HIV treatment to that of other illnesses (Cancer for example), by compairson there have been amazing strides, for the benefit of people like me. You here the term vaccine and you worry that this will promote risky sexual behavior? People are going to do what they're going to do, scaring people into behaving themselves doesn't work, I continue to see my peers test positive every day in spite of the current fear. Anything we can do to lessen or stop the impact of this disease will benefit us all.

[Tom]

If we do not have hope what do we have?

[wallace]

well folks..... what brought on the spreading of the disease in the fist place. sluts..... No love,no compassion. just sex. Isn't that how all the other diseases were brought on?? Oh there will be more when this one is cured. I remember before aids. I use to see people doing what they were doing and I even Predicted a new disease was comming and that there will be no cure for it and that many thousands will die from it. That was 1978. Oh, I knew it was comming. It was just a matter of time. People keep on with the same practices and there will be a new disease to replace aids. whatch and see. Intermingling germs with germs is causes of all of our diseases.
People should look for love and a relationship, and not to just get their rocks off. That is the problem.
Just because you have a clean house and take care of your cleanliness externally doesn't prevent your filthy sex from disease. fact !
Filthy sex is an invitation to disease. Fact !!!!

[Chris]

alas, wallace shows us there are worse things than having HIV. There will be a cure for HIV sooner or later but there will never be a cure for being a miserable person.

[wallace]

I seen a few tapes on the new sex they have now. all a form of masturbation. That's all it was. no loving, no holding, nothing that really meant anything at all. no kissing???? and they call this love and want to get married??
count me out !

[M&M]

STOP BEEING NEGATIVE AND RETARDED. IN 1980 THERE WAS NOTHING, nothing to help the thousands who dies of aids, no help for any of our brothers, back then, it was the plague. 2008 we have medicines and treatments that stop the evolution of the virus and its giving people hope and more healthy years to live. HOPE that nobody had 20 years a go, so stop being cinic or negative, we came a long way, the cure and the vaccine will come soon. Just like the medicines came to those who go infected after 1988. BE patience, have fate and see the statistics.

[chocolate love]

wow wallace calling people sluts i bet you were very whorey in yr time everyone is not relationship material so there r whores/n there are singles/ n then there are relationship type fols yes we should practice safer sex being poz is not fun i should know maybe i should have practice even more safer so if this new cure comes n works i would be the happiest camper here doesnt mean i will practice unsafe sex i might even become celibate forever lol no promises this wishes :-)

[wallace]

alas chris...........cant stand the facts??????????
I happen to be the most wonderful caring and loveing person. I am filled with positivesess. I am also filled with laughter and love. You don't even know me at all, and your're condeming me?? I am misserable on the fact that I cannot feel safe with anyone because i may catch something that would kill me. All because some of you people want to not care about the rest of us and spread your illness in this society. Why shouldn't that bother me???
I put in my comment which is true, to help people, not destry them. I want people to open up their eyes and start looking out for the people who aren't infected and try not to let it getting worse by spreading their disease. Is this misserable?? no. It's called caring.
I am probably the best person you could ever have met or could meet. I care for people. I didn't mean to cause harm. I just wanted to stop the spread of the disease. You are abviouly a very sexually active person who does not.

[Chris.]

I tested positive 7 months ago. It was a day that I will never forget. The nurse’s exact words were “it came back positive”, and from that very moment, my life changed in a matter of seconds. I am 28 years old and I’m still very healthy. The day will eventually come where I will need to start treatment, but my life will not be over, my dreams will not be shattered. Just like any other disease out there, we all need to take responsibility of our health, eating properly, exercising, and getting enough rest. A vaccine will eventually come one day. But until that day comes, we need to live in the now. Anything is possible. If you close your mind, you close doors. Granted some have it worse than others, but for the most part, we are where we are today because of the choices we’ve made. Each and every day, we have a choice, and whether or not we make the right choice; the world will keeps turning. Technology will keep advancing. Society’s views will continue to change and grow, whether you want to believe it or not, there will always be hope.

[wallace]

I am not calling most of yous sluts! I love the gay community. It think it's pretty cool. I just don't like the spread of disease which could be helped if people could be more causcious. I read an article on gay .com where most men with hiv+ would not tell anyone if they had it. fact ! I'm just worred about the people who don't have it and are prone to it by these careless people. Is that a crime?? Am I the criminal?? no ! I want to help to correct the problem, and will try to help the people who are unwise to these type of people. That's called caring, not misserable!

[wallace]

alas chris..........there is a cure for a misserable person..............
be clean in bed and look out for other people, not just yourself. That is the cure! Nothing would make me happier ! I'm smiling now, are you???

[wallace]

to chris...my heart goes out to you and all infected with something that didn't have to have happened ir only thes people would have told you they were infected. That was my drift man. I wish you all the luck in the world. I love you. Hope all is well with you in the future. I never was a slut, sometimes I wished I had been one. I wanted love, to hold to kiss, and live in love. Sex was the last thing on my mind. Love came first, that's why I'm stilll here. There is nothing more wonderful than holding,laughing,sharing good times and esp holding. That is so cool. I fear for the man who goes out there looking for love just for sex. They'll never find it. The only thing they'll find is a doctors prescription for aids. how sad. Wished I could have known you. You sound pretty cool even though you ran me down. I still love you.

[Chris]

For clarity's sake I think it needs to be pointed out that there are at least two guys here named Chris, myself (the one who originally responded to wallace) and the gentleman who posted more recently telling us about having tested poz eight months ago. (On another discussion here I think I was one of three seperate guys named Chris. Must find a more unique name....)

Wallace you began by calling people "sluts", calling other peoples sex lives "filthy", and basically blaming AIDS on them. You basically sounded like a miserable guy. Then when people call you on it you start telling us that you're the most wonderful loving person in the whole world etc. And you wonder why people with HIV might not tell others? You are contributing to the atmosphere in which that is likely to happen! As long as popular language uses words like "clean" and "dirty" to describe different people's sex lives, and makes people with HIV feel as if they somehow deserved their condition for having been sluts etc., they will try to hide it. Please lose the whole vocabulary of "slut" "clean" "filthy" etc. It's the most dangerous thing around.

[corrective_unconscious]

"Filthy sex is an invitation to disease. Fact !!!!"
Posted by: wallace

Wallace is a recurring, talibangelical troll trying desperately to make sense of his homophobia and, probably, his "reparations" therapy program.

Sex is like eating or sleeping: There are a variety of ways to engage in fulfilling basic drives in healthy enough ways, just as there are ways to do so unhealthfully. It is not necessary to always have marriage or the expectation of enduring love involved to have responsible, safe, fun sex.

[Nightbird]

I sure hope this vaccine comes to pass, because more and more guys are just thinking having HIV is like having a cold, and they are barebacking. Don't believe me? Go to Gay.com's Barebacking chat rooms, and see how many HUNDREDS of guys are in their hooking up. The barebacking chatrooms are the busiest rooms Gay.com has, and it totally disgusts me guys are going in their and not caring about getting infected. I went in their once just to ask these guys "What about getting HIV..doesn't that worry you?", and to my surprise, half the guys who privated me said they actually WANTED to get HIV -absof*ckinglutely shocking. I have since learned these guys are called "Bug Chasers", and they all have pretty f*cked up reasons why they want HIV. So let's hope this vaccine comes to pass, because too many gay men are simply refusing to use condoms, no matter what health experts say. I don't like using a condom at all, but it beats the alternative of living a POZ life full of expensive pills I probably wouldn't be able to afford, awful side effects, and a shorter life span.

[Chris 28 2nd post]

Re: Wallace, it seems that all this is a very touchy subject for you. I would imagine that the very reason why you read this article is because you possibly were infected by someone who didn’t tell you they were positive, it’s a guess and I could be wrong. You portray a lot of anger and hatred, the very kind that causes the stigma that people with HIV face each and every day. Granted there are evil people out there who don’t care about who they infect. As a matter of fact, there are people out there who deliberately infect as many people as possible. And then you have people who use protection and still become HIV positive. HIV does not discriminate. People, however, do need to take responsibility for their own actions. People are so afraid to ask the question “what’s your HIV status?” and when the person replies NEG there’s no guarantee they are. Relying on the health care system to guarantee your health is definitely an unwise move. We are all unique, coming from different backgrounds. But at the end of the day, the true fact is we are all human and should be treated as such.

[Joshua]

You know some of you have said wonderful things...and some of you have said negative and hurtful things. As for me I am newly diagnosed and still at the beginning to learning to live again. Many things has been helpful to me like my family and friends(lord knows I couldn't do it without all you love guys) but the the most important is my heart and soul. The part of you that makes you look up and forward in life...gives you hope. Hope for a happy long life and possibly better treatments and "Hopefully" a cure. I do look at this as something that is not based in science and facts so to say. But it does inspire and give hope to those that gather strength from that part of themselves. And maybe nothing will from from these tests, maybe it inspires a reader to act and actually succeed at finding one...or maybe it won't. People...that is just life...Never certain but pliable. Either way---It is still nice to have a little Hope.

[Taylor]

Reagan's secretary of health and human services said the same thing in the early 80s - we can live with hope but let's be realistic here. Also, pay attention to the fact that a vaccine is not a cure - it does not reverse the infection process of those already infected. It PREVENTS initial infection from occurring.

[Joshua]

Yes but it can help and whats wrong with the hope of something good. Yes this could be a long shot but hope is one of the factors that move you forward in life. When it gets hard and uneven and you stumble what do? Do you just give up and live in misery...Or do what I plan on doing and picking yourself up and dust yourself off And take those steps forward.

[HomoHirsutus]

I work as a clinical research nurse. The company I work for does not manufacture or sell drugs. We independently perform the FDA required testing that must be done for a drug or vaccince to get FDA approval. It takes 8-12 years for a drug to get through that process and get onto market for the general public. The process starts with a drug compound being developed, then testing on cells and tissues, live animal testing, then an enormous amount of human testing to determine dose, safety, and tolerability. I want to stress that if a vaccine is "developed" in the next 5 years, it still needs to go though the 8-12 year process of testing before it will be ready to be on the market for everyone. So dont stop taking your antivirals or practicing safe sex thinking the cure is near or you might not live long enough to benefit from it.

[RJ]

It would be nice if they could develop this period! It is a medical fact that there is no possible way to cure a virus - viruses simply have to run their course while you treat the symptoms. I know there is promising research and field tests in the field for treating AIDS and keeping HIV under control longer, but I don't know how soon off a viral cure is. But then again, if they can cure HIV next might be the common cold.

[corrective_unconscious]

>"Also, pay attention to the fact that a vaccine is not a cure - it does not reverse the infection process of those already infected."

There are two kinds of vaccines. Re-read the article carefully. It is specifically not talking about preventative vaccines.

[wallace]

to chris 28 (sigmond) hello doc!
well it just so happens that I dont have aids. I haven't been with anyone for a long time, and if I did I can assure you that it was safe indeed.
I am angered at people who go out there knowing they have aids and they don't tell anyone, and they spread it. doesn't that anger you??
I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.
It also angers me that all the people of the past who have died and alot of them did not have to be. It could have been prevented. Perhaps alcohol, and,or drugs were to blame, whatever. Some of these people I knew, and they were really nice people. People who spread aids knowing they have it are like arsnics or burglers who come into your life not even caring if they'll ever see you again. Well...whatever. I'm off the subject and out of here. Hope I saved someones future in life.
Thanks for reading my input
so long guys and good luck ! be careful !

[Jack]

"Nobel laureate"??? Don't be ridiculous. Paul Krugman received the Nobel (economics), and he's a horse's ass. The Nobel Committee is hopelessly politicized.

[wallace]

I'm glad everone is happy ! LOL

[Malkar]

Brandon seems very scientifically literate. I am also aware of the mutant ccr5, and laboratory innovations to alter the basic genetic code of HIV. These marvelous innovations have been ignored or blatantly elusive to most of the intellectual elite for many years.