As scientists struggle to find a vaccine to prevent infection with the Aids virus, a study in mice suggests hope for a new approach – one that doctors now want to test in people. The treated mice in the study appeared to have 100% protection against HIV. That doesn’t mean the strategy will work in people. But several experts were impressed. “This is a very important paper (about) a very creative idea,” says the government’s Aids chief, Dr Anthony Fauci. He did not participate in the research.
The new study involved injecting mice with a protective gene, an idea that’s been tested against HIV infection in animals for a decade. In the nearly 30 years since HIV was identified, scientists haven’t been able to find a vaccine that is broadly effective. One boost came in 2009, when a large study in Thailand showed that an experimental vaccine protected about a third of recipients against infection. That’s not good enough for general use, but researchers are now trying to improve it.