ISLAMABAD: Scientists at the University of Oxford have started vaccinations of a novel HIV vaccine candidate as part of a Phase I clinical trial in the UK.

The goal of the trial is to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the HIVconsvX vaccine — a mosaic vaccine targeting a broad range of HIV-1 variants, making it potentially applicable for HIV strains in any geographical region.

Thirteen healthy, HIV-negative adults, aged 18-65 and who are considered not to be at high risk of infection, will initially receive one dose of the vaccine followed by a further booster dose at four weeks, Science Daily reported .

“An effective HIV vaccine has been elusive for 40 years. This trial is the first in a series of evaluations of this novel vaccine strategy in both HIV-negative individuals for prevention and in people living with HIV for cure, ” said lead researcher Tomas Hanke, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Jenner Institute at Oxford.

While most HIV vaccine candidates work by inducing antibodies generated by B-cells, HIVconsvX induces the immune system’s potent, pathogen obliterating T cells, targeting them to highly conserved and therefore vulnerable regions of HIV — an “Achilles heel” common to most HIV variants.

“Achieving protection against HIV is extremely challenging and it is important that we harness the protective potential of both the antibody and T cell arms of the immune system, ” said Paola Cicconi, Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Jenner Institute.