AIDS Vaccine Tests Well in Monkeys
By Nathan Seppa
With the help of two proteins that enhance the immune system’s response to infection, an experimental AIDS vaccine has kept rhesus monkeys healthy for more than 4 months after they were exposed to a virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
The monkeys still became infected with the virus, which in this case was a fusion of simian and human immunodeficiency viruses (SIV and HIV). But the animals’ bolstered immune system kept the infection from progressing to full-blown AIDS.