Researchers at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam have discovered that the HIV virus - which causes AIDS - has a trick that makes it more resistant to antibodies. On Sunday, a paper describing this discovery by scientists Hanneke Schuitemaker and Evelien Bunnik was published on website of the journal Nature Medicine.

Many antibodies focus on the part of the virus that attaches itself to a cell in the human body. The HIV-virus appears to have adapted itself so that these antibodies have less effect. This means that HIV vaccines, which have been worked on for years, have to be able to generate even more powerful antibodies.

“We thought that the virus couldn’t allow itself to change because otherwise it would not be able to infect people,” says researcher Hanneke Schuitemaker. “Now we see that the virus probably covers over this part, so that antibodies cannot get to it. It is an unexpected trick on the virus’ part.”

Vaccines that protect against viral infections focus on generating antibodies which attack a virus that has entered the body.

It was hoped a vaccine against HIV would work the same way but, says Ms Schuitemaker, “Now it seems the virus can get around the natural antibody response, which makes finding a vaccine more difficult.”

The findings do not have consequences for the combination therapy currently used to treat people with HIV. The cocktail of HIV inhibitors is so effective that antibodies do not play any role.
 

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