Team from Scripps helped identify potent new weapons
By Scott LaFee, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
September 4, 2009
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have helped identify two rare and potent human antibodies against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Their discovery could finally reveal a chink in the armor of the deadly virus and lead to development of an effective, broad-based AIDS vaccine.
The research will be published in today’s edition of the journal Science. The Scripps team worked with those from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and biotechnology companies Theraclone Sciences in Seattle and Monogram Biosciences in San Francisco.
Before this latest announcement, only five of these pathogen-busting proteins — called broadly neutralizing antibodies, or bNAbs — had been pinpointed in people. The last finding came more than a decade ago.
Although analysis of the new antibodies is still in its earliest stages, the preliminary findings suggest dramatic potential.
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