Japan HIV vaccine trial gets under way

Scientists at the Research Hospital of Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Sciences have launched a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine developed exclusively to combat the strain of the virus affecting most HIV-positive people in Japan, the Daily Yomiuri reports. The vaccine aims to stimulate immune responses to the virus to help control infection in those who are already HIV-positive. The researchers have mixed health immune cells taken from HIV patients with key sections of the virus in an effort to prime the cells into recognizing and responding to these HIV segments. The cells are then injected back into the bodies of the patients, where it is hoped they will prime other immune cells into attacking the virus and inhibiting its ability to replicate in large numbers. Vaccine study volunteers will be followed for two years to observe whether the approach is effective in preventing disease progression to an AIDS diagnosis.