AAV for HIV
Gene transfer-based protein delivery could protect against HIV infection
On top of the problem of creating an HIV vaccine against a rapidly mutating virus, immunologists have been stumped for many years by the fact that preventing access to CD4 - HIV's key entry point to immune cells - provides little or no protection. A group at The Scripps Research Institute might have solved both problems with a gene transfer strategy and a compound that prevents the virus from binding both CD4 and the co-receptor CCR5. Whether or not this compound makes it to market, the data finally explain why going after CD4 alone has failed as a vaccine strategy.
The CD4 receptor on T cells has been a central focus of both therapeutic and vaccine development in HIV, because it acts as the principal gateway through which the virus infects immune cells. ...