Scientists at Scripps University in California are also looking at HIV, a sexually transmitted infection that affects 1. 2 million people worldwide, as a candidate for an mRNA vaccine. Similar to the way the COVID-19 vaccine attaches to spiky coronavirus proteins and kills them, the HIV vaccine could do the same with HIV particles, William Schief, an immunologist at Scripps Research who helped develop the HIV vaccine in a Phase 1 trial, said in a press release. Now that Schief's team knows mRNA can be used to target and kill HIV, they'll use that technology in future studies in the hopes of soon creating an HIV vaccine. Since the advent of the COVID-19 vaccine, researchers have also pivoted to diseases they anticipate will become greater threats in the coming years. The Oxford University scientists who collaborated with AstraZeneca to develop their COVID-19 vaccine are now working on a vaccine to treat the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, Insider previously reported. Loading Something is loading.
"It, therefore, has exciting possibilities for an HIV vaccine, and it's great to see Moderna looking at how to move an mRNA HIV vaccine into clinical research. " Warren noted that there is a caveat. "One key question is whether there will be the political and financial support to move a mRNA-based HIV vaccine forward with the same speed the COVID-19 vaccines were moved forward. " Of course, a huge amount of scientific and clinical work must happen before an HIV vaccine can be a reality. Vaccine development is a painstaking process, and pharmaceutical companies have to be very careful to make sure they do not create a product that accidentally hurts people. "The results from the IAVI G001 trial are encouraging in that they validate a promising new approach to HIV vaccine design, " Feinberg told Salon. "However, much research will be needed to extend this approach so that we can achieve the goal of a broadly effective HIV vaccine. We are working with partners, including the biotechnology company Moderna, to advance research as quickly as possible. "
At a meeting of a Kanawha County HIV task force last month, he warned it could take years to address the surge. "It is possible the current case count represents the tip of the iceberg, " Daskalakis said. "There are likely many more undiagnosed cases in the community. We are concerned that transmission is ongoing and that the number of people with HIV will continue to increase unless urgent action is taken. " Health officials have said needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce the spread of communicable disease. But city leaders and first responders complained that such a program in Kanawha County led to an increase in needles being left in public places and abandoned buildings, and it was shut down. The nonprofit organization Solutions Oriented Addiction Response, first founded to tackle the opioid epidemic, has stepped into the breach. In addition to providing addicts with clean needles in Charleston, the group shares information about HIV testing with residents, including the homeless, said SOAR co-founder Sarah Stone.
The COVID-19 vaccine developer's long-term goal is to show that its mRNA-based vaccine can produce broadly neutralizing antibodies, a type of immune response that researchers believe will be protective against circulating HIV strains around the world. "Think about the people who die of HIV every year, the people who aren't alive because they don't have the amazing therapy available in this country, " CEO Stephane Bancel told Insider in an interview Tuesday. In 2019, 700, 000 people died of AIDS-related causes, the disease caused by HIV, and an estimated 1. 7 million individuals contracted HIV. However, two veteran HIV/AIDS researchers told Insider that while they're excited by the prospect of using mRNA technology to develop an HIV vaccine, there's a long road ahead for all players involved. Moderna's mRNA technology will indisputably speed up the "fine-tuning" of HIV vaccine development, but only continued testing will show if the end result is actually safe and effective. Emory University virology professor Rafick-Pierre Sekaly, who has studied HIV for two decades, said it would be "crazy not to test" whether mRNA technology could bypass the expensive, slow process of generating these protein fragments in the lab.
Following effective clinical trial results and millions of successful vaccinations with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, researchers now are looking into how the discovery could make way for other coveted treatments. Scientists are gearing up to study mRNA for cancer and HIV treatment Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are preparing to study mRNA as a cancer treatment right now. They believe mRNA could be used to prevent cancer recurrence, Dr. Van Morris, an oncologist heading the clinical trial, said in a recent article on the MD Anderson website. The likelihood of cancer recurring varies based on the type of cancer, and is most common with ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, and glioblastoma. Recurrence happens when small amounts of cancer cells stay in the body after treatment, multiply, and in some cases move to other areas of the body. In the trial, which is currently in its second phase, doctors test cancer patients who had tumors removed and went through chemotherapy.
3% in the DRC, compared with 0. 1% to 2. 0% worldwide. "The finding of a large group of HIV elite controllers in the DRC is significant considering that HIV is a life-long, chronic condition that typically progresses over time, " said Tom Quinn, M. D., director of Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, and chief of the International HIV/AIDS Research Section of the NIAID. "There have been rare instances of the infection not progressing in individuals prior to this study, but this high frequency is unusual and suggests there is something interesting happening at a physiological level in the DRC that's not random. " Abbott shares were slightly higher premarket, but have gained 50% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0. 61% has gained 26%.
Medical device, diagnostics and generic drug maker Abbott ABT, +1. 47% said Tuesday a team of scientists has found an unusually high number of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with controlled HIV and said they could be a key to advancing therapies, or even developing a vaccine. The people in question test positive for HIV antibodies, but have low to non-detectable viral load counts, without using antiretroviral treatment, Abbott said in a statement. The findings were published in EbioMedicine, part of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. They "may help researchers uncover biological trends within this population that could lead to advancements in HIV treatments -- and potentially vaccines, " said the statement. Researchers from Abbott, working with Johns Hopkins University, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Université Protestante au Congo found the prevalence of HIV elite controllers was 2. 7% to 4.
A woman is seen getting a COVID vaccine in California As BioNTech's profile has grown during the pandemic, so has its value, providing funds the company can use to pursue its original goal of developing a new tool against cancer. Ozlem Tureci, who co-founded the German company BioNTech with her husband, said last month: 'We have several different cancer vaccines based on mRNA. ' Asked when such a therapy might be available, Tureci said 'that's very difficult to predict in innovative development'. 'But we expect that within only a couple of years, we will also have our vaccines (against) cancer at a place where we can offer them to people. ' According to Inverse, scientists at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are also studying mRNA as a cancer treatment. Van Karlyle Morris, a gastrointestinal oncologist at the university, told the news site that he is leading a clinical trial to test mRNA vaccines as 'personalized therapies for patients who have been treated for cancer, with the goal of further reducing the risk of the cancer coming back'.