Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
01/30/2013
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Tests will be conducted in 48 HIV-positive patients.
First results should come out in 5 months, scientists say.
Teacher Erwann Loret handles HIV vaccine in Marseille. (Photo: Anne-Christine Poujoulart / AFP)
Scientists will begin in the coming weeks clinical trials of a vaccine against AIDS, in Marseille, southern France, with 48 volunteers seropositive, giving a new hope in the fight against the virus. The initiative was announced on Tuesday (29) by Professor Erwann Loret.
"Not the end of AIDS," mused Loret, although the expectation of the researchers is to be able to replace the cocktails of antiretroviral drugs, whose side effects are usually quite uncomfortable for the vaccine.
"The target is a protein called Tat (transactivator of viral transcription)," added the professor, who presented at a hospital in Marseille authorized the trial on January 24 by the National Security Agency of Medicines (MSNA).
Goal is to replace antiretroviral cocktails, which
have many side effects
(Photo: Anne-Christine Poujoulart / AFP)
In HIV patients, this protein acts as a "bodyguard of infected cells," he explained. Soon, the body can not even recognize it, or neutralize it, something that wants to reverse the vaccine.
Forty-eight seropositive patients treated with cocktails and will participate in the study. The tests will begin in a few weeks time to select volunteers, explain to them the risks of the experiment and obtain their consent.
Early drafts of results are expected to be in five months.
The patients will be vaccinated three times, with one month interval between each dose. Then they should discontinue treatment with cocktails for two months.
"If, after these two months the viremia (virus in the blood rate) is undetectable," then the study has met the criteria established by UNAIDS (United Nations agency focused on combae AIDS), explained Professor Loret.
On success, 80 people will participate in tests, half of them taking the vaccine and the other a placebo. Scientists warn, however, that will take several years to see whether or not the vaccine is a breakthrough.
"From 25 to 26 testing HIV vaccines are made in the world today", according to Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, director of the National Agency for Research on AIDS (ANRS) in France.
Although encouraging, the announcement also said the teacher requires caution. "You have to be careful with the messages we convey to patients and the general public," he said during a telephone conference.
His opinion is shared by Suzan Marie, regional president of AIDES, a French association fighting AIDS. According to her, it is wise to "wait and see how it goes" research.
In 2011, 34 million people worldwide were living with HIV and 2.5 million have been infected. Since it was discovered, the virus caused over 30 million deaths and estimated that, each year, 1.8 million people die of HIV / AIDS, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Source: G1 - News - The Well
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.