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Therapeutic
Immunization May Curb HIV After HAART Is Stopped
By
David Douglas
Following cessation of HAART,
prior inoculation with experimental HIV vaccines and interleukin
(IL)- 2 administration appear to reduce HIV replication,
according to French researchers.
As lead investigator Dr. Yves Levy
told Reuters Health, "these results are encouraging since they
demonstrate that a therapeutic immunization may help patients to
contain viral replication after HAART discontinuation."
Dr. Levy of Hopital Henri Mondor in
Creteil and colleagues report in the February 18th issue of AIDS
that they randomized 71 HIV patients to continue their antiviral
therapy alone and act as controls or to receive vaccination and
IL-2.
The vaccination group was given 4 doses
of a combination of ALVAC-HIV and Lipo-6T vaccines at 4-week intervals,
followed by 3 cycles of IL-2, 16 weeks apart.
Fifteen of 32 vaccination patients
(47%) showed a stable HIV p24 antigen-proliferative response compared
to 8 of 33 controls (24%).
Furthermore, 58% of the vaccination
group showed a multiepitopic HIV-1 specific CD4 proliferative response
compared with 25% of controls.
"Patients from both arms stopped
antiviral drugs at week 40," the team explains, with viral
load and CD4 counts monitored regularly.
Eight of the vaccination patients (24%)
remained off antiviral drugs some 3 months after stopping HAART.
This was true of only two of control patients (5%). Those in virologic
failure were "recommended to resume antiviral drugs."
Overall, continued Dr. Levy, the therapeutic
"effect correlated with enhanced HIV specific immunological
responses. In the long term, these effects translated into a significant
reduction of the duration of HAART exposure."
03/18/05
AIDS 2005;19:279-286.
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