South Australian researchers claim they have made a significant breakthrough in tackling HIV and hepatitis C, using a new type of DNA vaccine which protects against the viruses and could possibly provide a cure in five years.

Adelaide University's Professor Eric Gowans says the vaccine has already had positive results in animals, with human trials to start next year.

"DNA vaccines in general have enormous potential, but haven't worked very well in large animals and in patients," he said.

"They work very nicely in mice and we've developed a protocol and a technique that simplifies the whole process and makes a DNA vaccine very much more effective in large animals."

Professor Gowans says he has found a way to stimulate the body's immune system response which helps deliver the vaccine.

He says DNA vaccines usually target muscles, but his technique injects DNA into the skin.

"Because we want to improve the efficacy of the DNA vaccination, we target the skin because the skin has a much greater proportion of white blood cells, which are important for the kind of immunity that we're trying to impart," he said.

Those white blood cells are known as dendritic cells and play a key role during infection and vaccination.

The DNA vaccine stimulates the body's immune response and combines with the white blood cells to kill HIV or hepatitis C cells.

"What we need to do is to target that small population of white blood cells, which circulate generally in the body, and unless the vaccine targets those cells, the vaccine isn't effective and isn't efficient in any way," Professor Gowans said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 3 m Adelaide researchers claim breakthrough in tackling HIV Download 1.4 MB

"So we've developed a strategy that targets these white blood cells in an indirect manner; we generate a little inflammation and that attracts all these white blood cells to that site of vaccination."

Professor Gowans says other researchers have used skin to deliver the vaccine, but not to target white blood cells in this way.

"We kill the cells that the vaccine is targeted to, and then those dead cells are highly inflammatory and they attract more of these white blood cells, so that is the difference," he said.

The vaccine is currently designed to treat patients who already have hepatitis C.

But Professor Gowans says it is likely it could be used as a preventative vaccine for hepatitis C and HIV in the next five years.

"It's a significant advance; the strategy is novel, because we have the patent and it's been examined," he said.

"I don't want to be too optimistic, but I think when we do the clinical trial next year, I think we can then begin to work out how best to take it forward from there."

Those human trials will involve about 40 people infected with hepatitis C.