United Press International - Thursday, July 11, 2002
Michael Smith, UPI Science News

"This vaccine is really different," said Julianna Lisziewicz of the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy in Washington, D.C. The compound, called DermaVir, is the first topical vaccine aimed at the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, although there are nasal spray vaccines for flu.

Lisziewicz told United Press International the vaccine takes advantage of a network of cells in the skin -- called the Langerhans cells -- whose job is to tell the immune system the body is under attack.

In a type of monkey called rhesus macaques infected with SIV, the simian equivalent of HIV, the vaccine slowed the progress of the infection, and prevented deaths from AIDS. It also appeared to help the immune system recover the ability to fight SIV on its own.

Other researchers cautioned that the results, although interesting, are still early. "This is a new delivery system," said Seth Berkley of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which is spearheading the drive to find an AIDS vaccine.

"But it's in monkeys, it hasn't been replicated by anyone else, and we don't know if it works in humans," Berkley said. He added the DermaVir compound is a "therapeutic vaccine," meaning it would be used to treat people already infected with the disease, rather than to prevent people from becoming infected.

Several preventive vaccines, using the traditional method of injection, are now in late-stage human studies. Two of the studies, conducted by California's VaxGen Inc., will deliver their results within a few months.

Lisziewicz said the vaccine "contains a lot of viral genes," which cause the immune system to respond to all aspects of the virus, but the genes are modified so they cannot cause infection.

In the animal studies, she said, four groups of seven macaques were infected with SIV. One group received no treatment, one received only the vaccine, one received standard anti-retroviral therapy similar to what is given to humans, and one received both drug therapy and the vaccine.

After 30 weeks, all but one of the control macaques was dead, while only one of the vaccinated macaques had died.

The drug-treatment groups showed surprising results, said researcher Franco Lori, one of the developers of the rub-on vaccine. The macaques in both groups had their treatment interrupted in three-week cycles. As is the case in infected humans, the virus rebounded and grew when the drugs were stopped. But in the group also given the vaccine creme, the extent of the rebounds became progressively smaller over time and eventually stopped.

"The vaccine creates or induces a specific immune response against the virus," Lori said, something that is usually as both SIV and HIV attack the immune system. Although drugs control the virus, they cannot restore the immune system's ability to attack it, he said.
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