Oolon Colluphid
26 Feb 2009, 02:34 PM
... according to this BBC News article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7907774.stm).
HIV is evolving rapidly to escape the human immune system, an international study has shown.
The Nature study highlights just how tough it could be to develop a vaccine that keeps pace with the changing nature of the virus.
The researchers showed HIV was able to adapt rapidly to counter human genes controlling immune system molecules that can target it for destruction.Lead researcher Professor Philip Goulder, of the University of Oxford, said similar effects were seen for every HLA gene examined.
He said: "This shows that HIV is extremely adept at adapting to the immune responses in human populations that are most effective at containing the virus.
"This is high speed evolution that we're seeing in the space of just a couple of decades.
"The temptation is to see this as bad news, that these results mean the virus is winning the battle.
"That's not necessarily the case. It could equally be that as the virus changes, different immune responses come into play and are actually more effective.
"The implication is that once we have found an effective vaccine, it would need to be changed on a frequent basis to catch up with the evolving virus, much like we do today with the flu vaccine."
It's a little bugger, eh?
HIV is evolving rapidly to escape the human immune system, an international study has shown.
The Nature study highlights just how tough it could be to develop a vaccine that keeps pace with the changing nature of the virus.
The researchers showed HIV was able to adapt rapidly to counter human genes controlling immune system molecules that can target it for destruction.Lead researcher Professor Philip Goulder, of the University of Oxford, said similar effects were seen for every HLA gene examined.
He said: "This shows that HIV is extremely adept at adapting to the immune responses in human populations that are most effective at containing the virus.
"This is high speed evolution that we're seeing in the space of just a couple of decades.
"The temptation is to see this as bad news, that these results mean the virus is winning the battle.
"That's not necessarily the case. It could equally be that as the virus changes, different immune responses come into play and are actually more effective.
"The implication is that once we have found an effective vaccine, it would need to be changed on a frequent basis to catch up with the evolving virus, much like we do today with the flu vaccine."
It's a little bugger, eh?