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A new strain of antibodies from HIV
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists have long been involved in the development of drugs for immunotherapy. The first generation of antibodies during the experiments showed its low efficiency, and the experts continued to work in this direction. In one of the US universities, virologists have created a new generation of antibodies designed to fight the virus of immunodeficiency.
An international team of specialists from America and Germany created a new strain of antibodies 3BNC117, which can become the basis for new drugs from HIV and AIDS.
A feature of the new generation of antibodies is that they can neutralize more than 80% of all strains of the virus. Compared to antiretroviral therapy, which is currently used to treat the immunodeficiency virus, new antibodies are able to interact with the immune cells of the patient, which makes it possible to neutralize the virus more efficiently.
A group of virologists from Rockefeller University conducted an experiment in which 29 people were diagnosed with HIV. The volunteers were given different dosages of antibodies 3BNC117. 17 of the participants at the time of the experiment did not receive treatment for HIV and did not take any medications. After a single injection of a large number of antibodies in volunteers, the level of the virus in the blood decreased 8-fold, and for several participants-250-fold. The effect of the therapy lasted for a month.
Now, specialists can not say how appropriate the treatment of this vaccine is, since the cost of one treatment course can reach several thousand dollars.
Studies on laboratory rodents and monkeys conducted earlier showed good results both in decreasing the level of the virus in the blood and in neutralizing the virus. But during the trials involving people, scientists used only antibodies.
Scientists note that HIV rapidly changes, therefore, even if the drug proves effective in the course of experiments, treatment with 3BNC117 may lose its effectiveness with time.
As explained by Marina Kaski, one of the virologists, when the virus enters the body, the immune system captures particles of a pathogenic microorganism. Upon absorption, antibodies produced by immunity are attached to the surface of the virus. Most antibodies can recognize only one type of virus, because of which their effectiveness is reduced, in addition, the envelope of retroviruses is constantly changing.
The immune system is extremely rarely able to create versatile antibodies that are able to withstand different types of the virus.
Specialists noted that the introduction of antibodies will not completely eliminate HIV, since 3BNC117 does not neutralize all the subspecies of the immunodeficiency virus.
Since the virus is able to develop resistance to antibodies, the specialists recommend to conduct complex therapy (antibodies in combination with traditional HIV treatment).
In conclusion, the scientists noted that antibodies 3BNC117 can be used to develop an effective tool that will help protect a healthy person from infection with the virus with immunodeficiency.
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