Is the AIDS vaccine really developed? However, in fact, it is not recently that a report on the research progress of AIDS vaccine, that is, HIV vaccine, has attracted attention on the Internet. According to the report, a company "announced the results of the first human clinical trial of AIDS vaccine in the world, and the results showed that volunteers had good tolerance for AIDS vaccine". It also lists some data, such as "100% produced anti-HIV antibodies" and "the risk of infection decreased by 94% after a single exposure to HIV".
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For a time, in the spread, this was also exaggerated by some people. "AIDS virus is extinct." "Did this year's Nobel Prize fall?" . However, researchers in related fields point out that this statement is a misunderstanding of the research results. So, what kind of experiment is this? What does the data published in the experiment mean? How far are we from AIDS vaccine?
It is said that important progress has been made in AIDS vaccine research.
On July 24th this year, local time, the 9th International AIDS Association AIDS Science Conference was held in Paris, France. At the meeting, Janssen Pharmaceutical Company, a subsidiary of American Johnson & Johnson Company, announced in the form of oral report that in an early clinical trial called "APPROACH", they tested an anti-AIDS mosaic vaccine. The results showed that 393 healthy volunteers had 100% antibody reaction, and it was well tolerated, that is, there were no obvious side effects.
There are also media reports that the report said: "After a single exposure to HIV, the risk of infection decreased by 94%, and 66% of the subjects were still free from HIV infection after six exposures." This is more considered as evidence that the vaccine is effective.
△ Cross section of HIV under microscope.
Is the AIDS vaccine really coming?
Only from the above reports, the research and development of AIDS vaccine may have made great progress. But does this mean that the AIDS vaccine is really coming?
Question1:What does "100% produce antibodies" mean?
Truth: having antibodies doesn't mean it can be prevented.
There was an antibody reaction, and Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said:
Wu: Taking distilled water to get something else won't produce antibodies. Structurally, it integrates different parts of the virus to produce antibodies with wider functions.
Aids is caused by HIV infection, which can attack the human immune system. It is understood that the so-called "mosaic vaccine" is a vaccine made by splicing a variety of HIV subtype genes in response to the rapid evolution and diversity of HIV.
Regarding the antibody reaction of 100%, Wu Zunyou said that from a medical point of view, if it is aimed at other diseases, the significance of antibody production may be:
One is infected with some pathogenic microorganism;
Second, it has been restored;
Third, it won't be infected or reinfected, but it won't get sick.
However, Wu Zunyou stressed that for AIDS, the situation is very complicated:
Wu: Many people still have different understandings of this because of different backgrounds. Medically speaking, the situation of AIDS is very complicated. This antibody production does not represent the three meanings I said, if it is other diseases. Doesn't mean that you have recovered from AIDS; Does not mean that HIV will no longer be infected after entering the human body; Does not mean that it will not continue to develop into the disease process of AIDS, that is to say, it cannot stop the development of AIDS.
Question 2: "One exposure to HIV will reduce the risk of infection by 94%"?
Expert: This is the result of animal experiments.
As for some media reports, the report said: "After a single exposure to HIV, the risk of infection decreased by 94%, and 66% of the subjects were still free from HIV infection after six exposures." Experts believe that, first of all, this is not the result of clinical trials (which are different from clinical trials that produce antibodies), and the clinical endpoint data of related studies have not been made public.
Secondly, the so-called vaccine "can preventively reduce the infection rate of 94% after HIV exposure". After six exposures, the virus can achieve 66% complete protection. This result is not the result of experiments on humans, but the result of previous "preclinical" studies on rhesus monkeys. However, the protective power of human clinical trials of HIV vaccine will not be known until the clinical trials of the vaccine are completed, or even several years later.
Usually, from basic research and development to final marketing for consumers, it is necessary to complete a series of clinical verifications such as preclinical animal tests and early human clinical trials. Based on the published results of this study, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that as far as the project itself is concerned, progress has been made, but it is still too early to evaluate whether the vaccine can play a protective role.
Wu: Its effect can't be really evaluated until the third clinical stage. The second clinical phase of 1 is mainly about its safety and whether it can produce antibodies. Being able to produce antibodies means being able to produce an immune response. From the research itself, its vaccine has made progress. If the vaccine doesn't even have antibodies, there is basically no need to move forward. With antibodies, we can move on, but there is still a long way to go. Can play a protective role, can it be used? It is still too early to evaluate.
In fact, there is a huge ethical risk in conducting related experiments directly with healthy people. After vaccination, healthy people are directly exposed to the threat of HIV. If there is no effective drug treatment, once the subjects are infected with AIDS, no one can bear the serious consequences.
Question 3:3: How far is the AIDS vaccine from us?
Truth: It is not expected to appear for 5 years.
AIDS vaccine, how far is it from us? Wu Zunyou said that this is not easy to predict, but from the current global research, he does not expect it to appear in five years.
Wu: A simple phase III clinical trial will take five years. In other words, the vaccine worked and the theory worked. It depends on whether it is actually effective. This kind of clinical trial can't be done for five years, and there is no vaccine yet. So it should be said that it is unpredictable. If we have to say, there can be no vaccine in five years. In AIDS research, more research progress is the advent of new drugs. As far as 20 17 is concerned, seven new drugs have been registered in the world. The other is the innovative application of drugs.
Vaccine belongs to the category of drugs, and its research and development and listing are strictly regulated and restricted, which is true in all countries. Both drugs and vaccines need to complete preclinical animal trials and early human clinical trials from 1, 2a to 2b, 3a and 3b. At present, Johnson & Johnson has completed the early trial (the report says that the trial that can produce antibodies is 1/2a phase clinical trial), and its effectiveness and safety need to be tested in subsequent clinical trials.
At present, about 34 million people around the world are infected with HIV, and 25 million people have died of AIDS infection since it was discovered 30 years ago. So far, there is no vaccine that can effectively prevent new infections.