FLICKR, LESZEK LESZCZYNSKIScientists have long sought an HIV vaccine that would elicit the production of broadly neutralizing antibodies, which are thought to be key to stopping a wide range of viral strains. But this turns out to be a difficult task; only about 20 percent of HIV-infected individuals produce such antibodies. According to a study published today (July 20) in Nature, cows may be up for the job.
In the last few years, researchers have discovered that broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV tended to be large, unruly proteins. Alongside this finding, other scientists happened to find that cows’ antibodies tended to be similarly large and unruly. “It was an alignment of the stars, where we had veterinarians, cow antibody scientists, and HIV scientists all talking and came up with this . . . relatively simple question to test,” Devin Sok, director for antibody discovery and development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, tells STAT News.
Sure enough, immunizing four cows with a protein that mimics the HIV envelope, Sok and his colleagues were able to elicit the production of the broadly neutralizing antibodies they were after. Antibodies isolated from blood samples drawn from ...
