Scientists Unveil Piece of HIV Protein that May Be Key to AIDS Vaccine Development.


http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2007/niaid-14.htm

Did Rosetta helped with this discover?

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"In a finding that could have profound implications for AIDS vaccine design, researchers led by a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have generated an atomic-level picture of a key portion of an HIV surface protein as it looks when bound to an infection-fighting antibody. Unlike much of the constantly mutating virus, this protein component is stable and — more importantly, say the researchers — appears vulnerable to attack from this specific antibody, known as b12, that can broadly neutralize HIV"

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Is the site that the b12 antibody in the NIH press release binds to one of the ones studied with the GP120 work units?

Stephen

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Is the site that the b12 antibody in the NIH press release binds to one of the ones studied with the GP120 work units?

Stephen

Yes, we are collaborating closely with the NIH group, and are actively designing immunogens to mimic the B12 binding site.

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Hi,

We are using this structure as well as others as starting points for vaccine design. It's pretty exciting stuff, and I'm happy to say I've now officially joined the efforts on this project. Specifically, I'm using a similar crystal structure (solved by the same NIH group, our collaborators) in which a human immune-cell protein (CD4) interacts with parts of GP120 in a similar fashion to B12. Designing vaccines using this structure is analogous to (and being done in parallel with) using the B12 structure, and is a an extra chance at hitting the jackpot, ie designing an effective vaccine to elicit neutralizing antibodies.

Cheers,
V.

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Welcome Vanita, I wish you good luck.

This is a very good chance to promote Rosetta@home and bring more users to the project.

At least is what i'm doing.


Congratulations to Baker lab, excellent work.

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Some more recent research indicates that the vaccine will need to aim at antibodies that bind to the trimers (three-unit groups) of the gp120 protein that the virus uses to enter human cells, without being mostly wasted by also binding to the monomers (single units) of this protein found at other points on its coat.


New findings suggest strategy to help generate HIV-neutralizing antibodies

http://www.physorg.com/news177874714.html