CALIFORNIAN scientists have announced new developments in the search
for a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The researchers,
from the biotechnology company Genentech in San Fran cisco, will publish
results next week in the journal Nature.
The team inoculated two chimpanzees with a recombinant form of gp120,
a protein from the virus鈥檚 coat. Then the researchers infected the animals
with HIV. Six months later, the two chimps have shown 鈥榥o signs of infection鈥�,
according to Genentech. A third chimp, which was given HIV but without previously
being inoculated, became positive for the virus after seven weeks.
The company says the findings are 鈥榚ncouraging鈥�, but warns that several
years work and a lot more knowledge are needed before real progress can
be claimed. For example, chimpanzees are not a perfect model to study HIV
in humans, and there are many different strains of the virus.
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