ABL Represented at 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention

The International AIDS Society (IAS) 2011 conference was held in Rome, Italy from July 17-20, where Dr. Frank Lemiale of VIRxSYS presented work conducted with ABL in which Dr. Tony Cristillo is a co-author. They have recently developed lentiviral vectors (LV) that express HIV antigens for HIV vaccine applications. These novel vectors compare favorably with other viral vectors currently being tested: they elicit strong anti-HIV immunity, induce sustained vaccine-specific immunogenicity and overcome anti-vector immunity commonly associated with other viral vector platforms (F.Lemiale et al. Vaccine 2010; B.Asefa et al. Vaccine 2010). The study presented in Rome aimed to characterize the SIV-specific immunogenicity of SIV-based LV in the macaque model and to assess their potential to control viral load, preserve the immune compartment, and improve survival following stringent high dose intrarectal SIV challenge.

The findings define the achievement of functional cure in a subset of vaccinees and warrant clinical investigation. This candidate is being moved into phase 1 clinical trial in a therapeutic setting in HIV-infected subjects. Safety, immunogenicity and indications of clinical efficacy will be established in this first-in-class, first-in-humans trial.