After 20 years of grinding a sword, many papers in "Science" reveal the key to the effect of HIV vaccine

▎Editor of WuXi AppTec's content team Today, "Science" and its subsidiary journal Science Immunology published three papers in a row, revealing the key to an HIV vaccine being effective.

The official press release pointed out that this brings hope of ending human HIV infection.

Image source: 123RF About 20 years ago, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University (Oregon Health and Science University) designed a new type of vaccine-cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine, which can be completely eliminated in half of monkeys SIV virus (it can be roughly understood as the monkey version of HIV).

But why it works, the specific biological mechanism behind it has not been elucidated in detail.

A paper published by this university today found that the CMV vaccine they designed produces an unusual T cell response, which effectively fights SIV in monkeys.

This paper pointed out that the monkey CMV virus used as a carrier has undergone gene rearrangement, which affects the functions of eight immune-regulating proteins.

Only when they are inactivated can they induce an effective anti-SIV response.

On the contrary, if the function of any one of these proteins is restored, it will affect the anti-SIV T cell response.

At the same time, an article published in "Science" further elaborated the mechanism, pointing out that this discovery is expected to guide us in the design of CMV vaccines to produce these unusual T cell responses.

Another paper from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom mentioned that this special immune response brought by the CMV vaccine in monkeys is expected to be repeated in humans.

Researchers have isolated naive T cells from humans that have never been infected with HIV.
They were sensitized in vitro to produce a similar special T cell response and inhibit the target cells infected with the HIV-1 virus.

These results also theoretically support that the human CMV vaccine may also have a protective effect.

"Knowing the mechanism by which these CMV vaccines work in monkeys allows us to quickly determine the potential of human vaccines," said Professor Louis Picker, one of the leaders of the first paper.
"If the CMV vaccine contains the wrong gene, the key is Immune response will not occur.

"At present, a biotechnology company called Vir Biotechnology has obtained a license from Oregon Health and Science University, and is evaluating the potential of human CMV vaccines to prevent HIV infection in a phase 1 clinical trial.

We also look forward to the success of the trial and bring an effective human HIV vaccine to the world as soon as possible.

References: [1] Daniel Malouli et al.
, (2021), Cytomegaloviral determinants of CD8+ T cell programming and RhCMV/SIV vaccine efficacy, Science Immunology, DOI: 10.
1126/sciimmunol.
abg5413[2] Hongbing Yang et al.
, ( 2021), HLA-E--restricted, Gag-specific CD8+ T cells can suppress HIV-1 infection, offering vaccine opportunities, Science Immunology, DOI: 10.
1126/sciimmunol.
abg1703[3] Marieke Verweij et al.
, (2021), Modulation of MHC-E transport by viral decoy ligands is required for RhCMV/SIV vaccine efficacy, Science, DOI: 10.
1126/science.
abe9233[4] HIV vaccine candidate's mysteries unlocked 20 years later, Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https:// news.
ohsu.
edu/2021/03/25/hiv-vaccine-candidates-mysteries-unlocked-20-years-later