EAVI2020 begins new HIV vaccine trial at Oxford University

The new trial will evaluate 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.

On 5 July, the EAVI2020 team at University of Oxford started vaccinations of a novel HIV vaccine candidate as part of a Phase I clinical trial in the UK.

The goal of the trial, known as HIV-CORE 0052, is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the HIVconsvX vaccine. The novel mosaic vaccine works by targeting a broad range of HIV-1 variants, making it potentially applicable for HIV strains in any geographical region.

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.

Professor Tomáš Hanke, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, and lead researcher on the trial, said: ‘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.’

The consortium hopes to be able to report results of the HIV-CORE 0052 trial by April 2020.

ITV News Health Editor Emily Morgan has met the scientists behind the trial and those taking part, watch the full ITV news clip here.