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November 5, 2009

Therapeutic Vaccines: Steady Wins the Race

"Also of interest are personally tailored vaccine strategies, such as the one that made a splash earlier this month at AIDS Vaccine 2009, the annual meeting of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, in Paris. AGS-004, being developed by North Carolina–based Argos, customizes immune system cells from each individual, using HIV fragments known as messenger RNA, to maximize an HIV-positive person’s immune response to the virus. To do this, dendritic cells are removed from the body and combined with mRNA taken from the same individual’s HIV. The data presented at the Paris conference showed that the vaccine, when given just before an ARV treatment interruption, kept viral loads at least 1 log—more than an 80 percent reduction—below pre-ARV therapy levels in 13 of 16 patients."

Read more in POZ, November 3, 2009.

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