HIV vaccine patent sought by S.A. institute

The Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio is seeking a patent for an HIV vaccine that will last a lifetime, saying it “may be our best hope for controlling the HIV pandemic.”

The genetically-engineered HIV vaccine targets the body's outer cells that are the first sites of contact with the virus.

The single-dose vaccine will lead to the continual production of disease-fighting cells without being eliminated by the immune system, and could be adapted for use against other infections, the institute says.

More than 90 percent of new HIV infections are transmitted by sexual intercourse through epithelial cells, which line the surfaces of structures throughout the body. The new vaccine is directed to what are known as the mucosal layers of the epithelium in areas where the virus enters the body.

“The development of an effective AIDS vaccine that restricts viral replication at the mucosal level of entry may be our best hope for controlling the HIV pandemic,” Dr. Marie-Claire Gauduin of Texas Biomed's Department of Virology and Immunology said in a statement posted on the institute's website Monday.

She's a co-inventor of the vaccine with Dr. Philippe Blancou of the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis in France.

“Only lifelong stimulation of the immune system by the vaccine will be sufficient to achieve long-term protection,” she added.

Texas Biomed, a Northwest Side facility formerly known as the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, bills itself as one of the world's leading independent biomedical research institutions.