August 11, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been awarded a four-and-a-half-year, $16 million grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to lead a multi-center study to develop and test a potential new class of HIV vaccines. Dr. Jiri Mestecky, professor of microbiology and medicine at UAB, is lead investigator of the study.

In preliminary laboratory tests, the candidate vaccine induced an immune response in the mucus membranes of the intestines and genitals — especially important since most cases of HIV are transmitted by this route. “Other trial vaccines have been shown to induce immune response in the blood, but not in the mucosal membranes of the reproductive and intestinal tracts,” Mestecky said. “This test vaccine, which does both, may prove especially beneficially in protecting against infection acquired by sexual intercourse.”

The candidate vaccine, which is incapable of causing disease, also is designed differently. “It more closely resembles HIV in structure than other test vaccines,” Mestecky said. “HIV can change its appearance tremendously, so the ability to protect against various strains is key. Dr. Beatrice Hahn, here at UAB, and researchers at several other universities identified common parts shared by various strains then constructed the vaccine of very small virus-like particles to resemble those shared parts. This structure may give it an advantage over other test vaccines.”

Other sites that will participate in the study are Harvard University, Emory University, and Novavax, Inc., which will develop and manufacture the test vaccine.

The team will develop and test the vaccine in animals, then conduct a small-scale study of the vaccine in humans. “If successful, NIAID will continue testing through its network of HIV vaccine test sites,” Mestecky said. “This network, which includes UAB, is capable of conducting vaccine trials on a much larger scale.”

Whether or not the vaccine makes it to human trials, the investigation promises to shed new light on the elusive virus and a potential vaccine. “Whether the outcome is positive or negative, the study will contribute greatly to HIV vaccine research,” Mestecky said. “When the trial is completed, we will know whether to go forward with testing of this vaccine on a large scale, or we will have to re-design our strategy.”