A vaccine capable of safely and effectively preventing HIV has eluded scientists for three decades.
But three University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers are part of a team developing a new technique to create a vaccine for the virus responsible for the deaths of an estimated 36 million people since the 1980s.
Their approach has received national and international recognition, and late last month the team was awarded a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to continue developing a vaccine capable of preventing the disease which has reached pandemic levels.
Led by UNL virologist Qingsheng Li, chemist Jiantao Guo and synthetic biologist Wei Niu, the team focused on stopping HIV’s reproduction process by disrupting its genetic code.
“For 30 years people have spent time and energy to develop an effective vaccine for HIV, but so far it is not satisfactory,” Li said. “An HIV vaccine remains challenging to develop.”
Unlike the flu vaccine which uses a portion of the virus’s genetic code or injecting cowpox virus into a body to inoculate against the genetically similar smallpox, HIV’s resilience allows it to overcome traditional vaccine development techniques.
So Li, who has studied HIV since 1995, recruited Guo and Hiu to lend their expertise to the project funded by grants from UNL’s chemistry department, the School of Biological Sciences, the Nebraska Center for Virology and the Nebraska Research Initiative.
Over two years, their work resulted in a “novel approach” to creating an HIV vaccine by manipulating the virus’s genetic code to stop it from replicating itself.
Guo said the process inserts “nonsense codons” into the genetic code, which blocks HIV from reproducing until it uses an unnatural amino acid not found in the body — keeping the virus alive but inactive.
The method worked in vitro tests, Guo said. “Now, we want to demonstrate it works in (a living body).”
The team published its findings in a German scientific journal in April. Last week, they learned their research would continue with a $1.9 million grant administered by the National Institutes of Health, which Li said will eventually lead to animal trials to learn how controlling HIV replication works in a living cell.
Charles Wood, the director of the Nebraska Center for Virology and a well-known AIDS researcher in his own right, said the interdisciplinary approach in developing the vaccine was key to its success.
“You have a chemist who doesn’t know much about virology and a virologist who doesn’t know much about chemistry,” he said. “Together they thought of using this new compound that is put onto a virus so that it’s not active or infectious but able to stimulate the host’s response.”
HIV and AIDS is estimated to affect 35 million people worldwide. Developing a vaccine for HIV is the kind of translational research Wood said the virology center is trying to produce and, if successful, would be a “big thing.”
“It’s the translational research that benefits stakeholders of the university and would attract further research opportunities and new companies,” Wood said.
Li and Guo are cautiously optimistic about the vaccine’s future potential, but said even if the technique is not 100 percent successful in vaccinating against HIV, it could see wider application.
“If it works (in living cells) this will have broader implications,” Li said. “Herpes simplex, other viruses — even some cancers.”
But three University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers are part of a team developing a new technique to create a vaccine for the virus responsible for the deaths of an estimated 36 million people since the 1980s.
Their approach has received national and international recognition, and late last month the team was awarded a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to continue developing a vaccine capable of preventing the disease which has reached pandemic levels.
Led by UNL virologist Qingsheng Li, chemist Jiantao Guo and synthetic biologist Wei Niu, the team focused on stopping HIV’s reproduction process by disrupting its genetic code.
“For 30 years people have spent time and energy to develop an effective vaccine for HIV, but so far it is not satisfactory,” Li said. “An HIV vaccine remains challenging to develop.”
Unlike the flu vaccine which uses a portion of the virus’s genetic code or injecting cowpox virus into a body to inoculate against the genetically similar smallpox, HIV’s resilience allows it to overcome traditional vaccine development techniques.
So Li, who has studied HIV since 1995, recruited Guo and Hiu to lend their expertise to the project funded by grants from UNL’s chemistry department, the School of Biological Sciences, the Nebraska Center for Virology and the Nebraska Research Initiative.
Over two years, their work resulted in a “novel approach” to creating an HIV vaccine by manipulating the virus’s genetic code to stop it from replicating itself.
Guo said the process inserts “nonsense codons” into the genetic code, which blocks HIV from reproducing until it uses an unnatural amino acid not found in the body — keeping the virus alive but inactive.
The method worked in vitro tests, Guo said. “Now, we want to demonstrate it works in (a living body).”
The team published its findings in a German scientific journal in April. Last week, they learned their research would continue with a $1.9 million grant administered by the National Institutes of Health, which Li said will eventually lead to animal trials to learn how controlling HIV replication works in a living cell.
Charles Wood, the director of the Nebraska Center for Virology and a well-known AIDS researcher in his own right, said the interdisciplinary approach in developing the vaccine was key to its success.
“You have a chemist who doesn’t know much about virology and a virologist who doesn’t know much about chemistry,” he said. “Together they thought of using this new compound that is put onto a virus so that it’s not active or infectious but able to stimulate the host’s response.”
HIV and AIDS is estimated to affect 35 million people worldwide. Developing a vaccine for HIV is the kind of translational research Wood said the virology center is trying to produce and, if successful, would be a “big thing.”
“It’s the translational research that benefits stakeholders of the university and would attract further research opportunities and new companies,” Wood said.
Li and Guo are cautiously optimistic about the vaccine’s future potential, but said even if the technique is not 100 percent successful in vaccinating against HIV, it could see wider application.
“If it works (in living cells) this will have broader implications,” Li said. “Herpes simplex, other viruses — even some cancers.”
