An HIV vaccine is one step closer to reality following a human trial that produced rare and elusive antibodies, a new study reports.
Many hurdles stand in the way of an effective HIV vaccine. The virus is a master of evasion, dodging the immune system by coating itself in sugars that resemble those made by the body, said Dr. Barton Haynes, a leader of the recent trial and director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. The virus also mutates rapidly, changing its form so that the immune system struggles to make antibodies that can grab hold of it.
