This week, the world focused its attention on a modern scourge that has devastated a continent and killed millions of people worldwide. Wednesday December 1st was World AIDS Day, and around the globe scientists are grappling with this most frustratingly elusive disease. But one of the main battlegrounds in the fight against HIV is in fact right here at St George’s.
The HIV research teams at St George’s are pioneering techniques to combat the spread of infection. Professor Robin Shattock and his 30-strong team in the Division of Cellular and Molecular Medicine’s Centre for Infection are world leaders in the development of potential vaccines and microbicides designed to prevent the transmission of HIV.
The team is conducting groundbreaking research into vaccines that may stimulate the body's natural defences, boosting immunity to the point where it could become resistant to HIV.
"We are already looking at next-generation approaches where we deliberately target the immune response in the genital tract. Our hope is that if the current vaccine shows some protection by stimulating an immune response in the blood, then stimulating an immune response in the genital tract where the virus first infects an individual may be even more effective."
A successful vaccine may be some way off, but in the meantime Prof Shattock believes microbicides could provide a way to stop the virus spreading.
Microbicides are substances that can stop the transmission of the HIV virus when applied to the vagina or rectum before sex. They come most often as a gel or cream. Clinical trials of microbicides have returned some promising results, but a sufficiently effective product has still to be found. Progress is still being made, however, and the results of a major trial of the vaginal microbicide PRO 2000 will be out early next year. The trial has been conducted by the Microbicides Development Programme, and included participants from Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.
In addition to Prof Shattock’s team, Professor Julian Ma and Professor David Lewis are investigating the use of genetically modified plants as a means to mass produce cheap microbicides.
"We desperately need to control the spread of HIV, particularly in developing countries," said Prof Ma. "A vaccine is still some way off, but microbicides could provide a more immediate solution, provided we can overcome major hurdles of high efficacy, low cost, and wide availability.”
To address these issues, Profs Ma and Lewis are cultivating transgenic tobacco plants which contain a protein deadly to the HIV virus when used as a microbicide. They are currently preparing to orchestrate the first clinical trials of plant-derived microbicides. The trial is being planned for early 2010, and will determine how safe the microbicides are. Following this, they hope to begin trials to investigate the efficacy of these microbicides.
The work being done at St George’s represents significant but incremental steps towards a solution, and the day when HIV and AIDS is eradicated may be years away.
For more information about World AIDS Day, visit the website at www.worldaidsday.org
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