NIH Scientists Freeze Virus Fragment in Shape Recognized by Immune System

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NIH Scientists Freeze Virus Fragment in Shape Recognized by Immune System
Development Has Implications for Vaccine Design

One approach to an HIV vaccine is to teach the immune system to recognize certain protein structures on the viral surface and produce antibodies that bind to those structures and neutralize HIV. A strategy for designing such a vaccine involves identifying the key viral surface structures, snipping them off and developing a method to present these fragments to the immune system. When some parts of the surface of HIV are removed, however, they change shape such that antibodies no longer recognize and bind to them. A research team led by investigators at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has developed a strategy to overcome this problem. The strategy has implications for scientists designing vaccines for HIV/AIDS as well as for other viral diseases.

For more information, go to http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2010/Pages/HIVepitope.aspx.

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NIH Scientists Freeze Virus Fragment in Shape Recognized by Immune System