• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Thursday, April 22, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

NIH-led team discovers new HIV vaccine target

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
May 12, 2016
in Health
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

A team led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reported a research trifecta. They discovered a new vulnerable site on HIV for a vaccine to target, a broadly neutralizing antibody that binds to that target site, and how the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell. The study was led by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH.

The new target is a part of HIV called the fusion peptide, a string of eight amino acids that helps the virus fuse with a cell to infect it. The fusion peptide has a much simpler structure than other sites on the virus that HIV vaccine scientists have studied.

The scientists first examined the blood of an HIV-infected person to explore its ability to stop the virus from infecting cells. The blood was good at neutralizing HIV but did not target any of the vulnerable spots on the virus where broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies (bnAbs) were known to bind.

The researchers isolated a powerful bnAb in the blood that they named VRC34.01, and found that it binds to the fusion peptide and a sugar molecule. The scientists then crystallized the antibody while it was bound to the virus. This allowed them to characterize in atomic-level detail how VRC34.01 attaches to HIV and revealed that the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell by binding to a key cell-surface molecule.

The scientists also report that it is not unusual for the immune system to try to stop HIV from infecting a cell by attacking the fusion peptide. When they screened the blood of 24 HIV-infected volunteers, they found that blood samples from 10 people targeted a similar binding site as VRC34.01.

The researchers are now working to create a vaccine designed to elicit antibodies similar to the VRC34.01 antibody.

###

ARTICLE:

R Kong, et al. Fusion peptide of HIV-1 as a site of vulnerability to neutralizing antibody. Science DOI: 10.1126/science.aae0474 (2016).

WHO:

NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., VRC Director John R. Mascola, M.D., and Peter D. Kwong, Ph.D., chief of the VRC Structural Biology Section, are available for comment.

CONTACT:

To schedule interviews, please contact Laura S. Leifman, (301) 402-1663, [email protected]

NIAID conducts and supports research–at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide–to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

Media Contact

Laura S. Leifman
[email protected]
301-402-1663
@NIAIDNews

http://www.niaid.nih.gov

The post NIH-led team discovers new HIV vaccine target appeared first on Scienmag.

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

IMAGE

Researchers identify predictive factors of delirium in Sub-Saharan Africa

April 22, 2021
IMAGE

Blacks, hispanics, impoverished have worse survival rates among teens, adults under 40 with cancer

April 22, 2021

How we know whether and when to pay attention

April 22, 2021

First clinical trials set for MRI cancer detection

April 22, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    A sturdier spike protein explains the faster spread of coronavirus variants

    45 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • UofL, Medtronic to develop epidural stimulation algorithms for spinal cord injury

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • New evidence in search for the mysterious Denisovans

    34 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Jonathan Wall receives $1.79 million to develop new amyloidosis treatment

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Zoology/Veterinary ScienceVehiclesUniversity of WashingtonViolence/CriminalsVaccinesWeaponryUrogenital SystemVirusUrbanizationVirologyWeather/StormsVaccine

Recent Posts

  • Researchers identify predictive factors of delirium in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Blacks, hispanics, impoverished have worse survival rates among teens, adults under 40 with cancer
  • Stress test finds cracks in the resistance of harmful hospital bugs
  • Among COVID-19 survivors, an increased risk of death, serious illness
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In