BioMed Central Blog

HIV vaccine – are we there yet?

Following the announcement last month of the success of the HIV-1 vaccine clinical trial, RV144, Ben Berkhout and William Paxton discuss the implications of this positive vaccine efficacy in their Editorial, published today in Retrovirology.

The RV144 Clinical trial began in 2003 and was seen by many as being a non-starter due to each of the vaccine’s two components having been previously shown to provide no protection as individual vaccines. Researchers hoped that in combination, the components would be more effective, and they were right. However, in spite of success of the trial showing this vaccine provides mild protection against HIV-1 infection, many issues remain unresolved.

“The trial has certainly posed more new questions than it has so far answered”, Dr Berkhout says, adding “The results of the RV144 trial may indicate that we should not put all our money on basic science and ignore clinical science, as human experimentation has added value over what we can test in tubes and animal models.”

The Editorial, HIV vaccine: it may take two to tango, but no party time yet, is available online.

Posted by Anne Braae at 16:31    Comments (0)