AIDS Vaccine Research: Consider Co-Infections
Rob Gruters and Ab Osterhaus
In the News of
the Week story "Trials of NIH's AIDS vaccine get a yellow light" J. Cohen and B. Lester report on the NIH
Vaccine Research Center (VRC) AIDS vaccine trial that was put on hold, and they
discuss whether the initiative should be continued. The VRC AIDS vaccine is
based on an adenovirus 5 (Ad5) vector similar to the Merck STEP vaccine for
which the trial was halted earlier this year. The authors cite the arguments
for and against continuing the VRC trial in a smaller group of participants
that excludes people who have antibodies against Ad5. The arguments include
ethical issues inherent in a vaccine with limited applicability and the lack of
proven efficacy of the vaccine in preclinical research.
We
suggest another factor to consider in making this decision: The risk for the
Ad5 seronegative participants to become infected with both HIV and Ad5 should
be taken into account, especially in countries, such as
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