HIV vaccine failure probably caused by virus used, says new research

HIV vaccine failure probably caused by virus used, says new research. Research suggests immunity to adenovirus may have increased the risk of HIV infection in the STEP Trial - %0A " - Imperial College London News Release Under strict embargo until: - 15. EST/20. GMT - Monday 16 November 2009 The recent failure of an HIV vaccine was probably caused by the immune system reacting to the virus 'shell' used to transmit the therapy around the body, according to research published today (16 November 2009) in the Point-of-care nanosensors for HIV diagnosis and monitoring, to be developed with £2 million award - The trial, called 'STEP', was halted in September 2007 because preliminary results suggested that people who had been given the vaccine were more likely to be infected with HIV than people who had been given a placebo. The researchers behind today's study, from Imperial College London, King's College London and Royal Holloway, University of London, say their findings mean scientists may have to rethink other vaccines they are developing for diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, which are delivered in the same way, using the same virus 'shell'. The vaccine used an adenovirus, which normally causes the common cold, to enable the vaccine therapy to travel around the body. Harmless HIV genes were then inserted into the virus.