WIKIMEDIA, J ROBERTO TRUJILLOWhile some HIV researchers are looking for immunogens that will spur the immune system to create antibodies effective in neutralizing the virus, others are bypassing the immune system altogether by simply delivering the antibodies via infusion. In a study published today (April 8) in Nature, researchers report that this strategy, known as passive immunization, can successfully reduce the levels of the virus in HIV-infected people.
“This is an early study, but it’s a study with some impressive results,” Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Nature.
Researchers dosed 29 people in the United States and Germany with a single infusion of one of four doses of a broadly neutralizing HIV antibody called 3BNC117.Those receiving the highest dose experienced a dramatic reduction—between 8- and 250-fold—in blood levels of the virus for four weeks.
How long this reduced viral load lasts remains to be seen, however, and the researchers found that, likely due to HIV’s high mutation rate, viruses cultured from two treated individuals were around 80 percent less sensitive to the antibody treatment 28 days after the high-dose infusion. Moreover, there are concerns about ...
