Vaccine Against Three Kinds of HIV Begins Human Tests

The new Vaccine Research Center at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is starting the first human trial of its vaccine candidate, developed to target HIV clades (subtypes) A, B, and C. Together these subtypes are responsible for about 90 percent of the world's AIDS epidemic (clade B causes almost all of the infections in the U.S.). Also, it might be more difficult for HIV to develop mutations to escape control by a multiclade vaccine, since it targets the virus in different ways.

Fifty healthy HIV-negative volunteers between 18 and 40 are needed for the first trial, which will be conducted at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. This placebo-controlled trial will check for safety and also for immune responses to HIV. Later trials will run in several U.S. sites, as well as in Haiti and South Africa.

For more information about the trial, including ways to volunteer, call 1-866-833-LIFE (5433), email vrcforlife@mail.nih.gov, or visit: www.niaid.nih.gov/vrc or www.clinicaltrials.gov.