HIV vaccine could come from AIIMS
Sutirtho Patranobis
New Delhi, July 21
In December last year, Dr Pradeep Seth gave himself what could turn out to be the most important injection of his life. He had earlier tried out the injection — a vaccine for HIV — on mice and monkeys.
The vaccine had worked on the animals. And Seth found that he was fine — he had suffered no side-effects.
The tests on animals had been conducted in 'vitro' — blood samples from the injected animals were made to react with the HIV virus and Seth, head of microbiology at AIIMS, [All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi], discovered the vaccine was successful in inducing immunity. "Tremendous and robust and HIV-specific immune response to the vaccine was seen during animal trials. Special tests were conducted and it was found that the vaccine had induced development of antibodies to the virus,'' says Seth.
The research team at the National HIV Reference Centre in AIIMS that developed the vaccine is now waiting for clearance to start clinical trials on human beings.
"Dr Seth wrote to us a couple of months ago and we responded saying his work has to be reviewed by an expert scientific committee before clearance for human trials can be given," says health secretary J.V.R. Prasada Rao.
The vaccine, called the HIV-1 DNA, immunised mice and monkeys from sub-type C — the type of HIV which accounts for more than 95 per cent of infections in India — in trials carried out since 1996. A vaccine is the surest shield against HIV/AIDS.
To be doubly sure, further pre-clinical toxicity tests will be conducted in the first week of August on mice, rats or rabbits in nationally as well as internationally certified laboratories in the country. "These will be completed in six months,'' Seth says.
The department has collected over 400 samples of HIV-positive blood samples. Research on the vaccine, however, ran into trouble in 2002 after activists protested against the treatment of the animals being used in the tests. "Trials on monkeys were then shifted to IISc, Bangalore, which has a world-class primate facility. More than 70 monkeys are being monitored there. So far, none of the monkeys have shown any negative side-effects,'' Seth says.
Research on HIV has been going on at the AIIMS centre since 1986. But the thrust for developing a vaccine came 10 years later. The Centre's Department of Bio-technology is providing funds.
Seth and AIIMS have also entered into an agreement with a pharmaceutical company to manufacture the vaccine for the pre-clinical trials.