SIV virionNIH, SRIRAM SUBRAMANIAMA vaccine has eliminated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in some rhesus macaques, which remained uninfected for as long as three years post-treatment, according to a study published in Nature yesterday (September 12).
Previously, researchers had shown that about half of rhesus macaques given the vaccine were protected from SIV infection. The new study showed that monkeys given the vaccine and then infected with SIV showed no signs of the virus in their systems even though it had originally taken hold.
“The virus got in, it infected some cells, moved about in various parts of the body, but it was subsequently cleared, so that by two or three years later the monkeys looked like normal monkeys,” study coauthor Louis Picker from Oregon Health and Science University told Gizmodo.
The vaccine contains a cytomegalovirus that expresses SIV proteins, stimulating the immune system to recognize and attempt to eliminate the virus. The researchers now hope to determine whether the vaccine ...
