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Vaccine adjuvant provides long-lasting protection against HIV in monkeys

A vaccine adjuvant named 3M-052 was able to provide rhesus monkeys with protection against HIV for over a year, a new study reports.

Monkey with HIV

Researchers say that they have developed a new vaccine adjuvant that helps to induce long-lasting immunity against HIV in rhesus monkeys by promoting a sustained antibody response. The study was conducted at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Emory Vaccine Center (EVC), both US.

In this pre-clinical study that included 90 rhesus monkeys, the team revealed that 3M-052 – a new, synthetic small molecule – targets a specific receptor named TLR 7/8. According to the researchers, this successfully induced vaccine-specific, long-lived bone marrow plasma cells (BM-LLPCs) in the monkeys, which are critical for durable immunity.

The team observed that 3M-052-induced BM-LLPCs were maintained at high numbers for more than one year after vaccination.

 

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First author Dr Sudhir Pai Kasturi, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a research assistant professor at Yerkes and the EVC, said: “We have known adjuvants are critical immunity-boosting supplements that help improve the effectiveness of vaccines. Until now, however, it has been unclear which class of adjuvants can promote stable and long-lived immunity in non-human primate models. Our study provides that information.”

Co-senior author Dr Rafi Ahmed, director of the EVC, added: “The key to a successful vaccine is durability of immune responses. Antibodies provide the first line of defence against pathogens and antibody levels are maintained by the generation of long-lived plasma cells that reside in bone marrow. Our study identifies an adjuvant that is effective in generating such long-lived plasma cells in bone marrow. This finding has implications for developing successful vaccines against HIV, influenza and especially important now, COVID-19.”

The study results were published in Science Immunology.

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