Spanish researchers have completed the first human trial of a new vaccine against HIV. It has been successful in 90% of the HIV-free volunteers during phase I testing. This vaccine brings great hope to eradicate this plague forever. The team lead by Dr Mariano Esteban, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council's Biotechnology National Centre, has been working on this method since 1999. They are using an attenuated virus called the MVA-B, a variation of the Modified Ankara Vaccinia, which was previously used to eradicate smallpox. The Modified Ankara Vaccinia also forms the base of other vaccines. The B refers to the HIV-B, the most common HIV subtype in Europe.
Dr Esteban's team inserted the HIV genes Gag, Pol, Nef and Env in MVA's genetic sequence. In 2008, they tried the resulting HIV nuke on mice and monkeys. It was a complete success.
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