Aust HIV vaccine trial now recruiting subjects

The first HIV vaccine developed in Australia is expected to go to clinical trials within months, with results expected in mid 2004.

The Australian-Thai HIV Vaccine Consortium trial, being conducted by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), will 'prime-boost' methodology to generate an AIDS-combating response in the subjects.

The vaccine, developed cooperatively by several research groups across Australia, uses a DNA vaccine to prime the immune system to recognise components of HIV, then introduces a pox virus (in this case fowl pox) designed to boost the immune cells that could help combat the HIV infection itself, should it occur.

"We are currently recruiting and screening 24 healthy volunteers who have a low risk of contracting HIV," said Dr Tony Kelleher, principal investigator of the clinical trial.

Kelleher said the trial results would enable researchers to quantify the human body's ability to produce anti-HIV responses, without the virus itself being present.

"So far we have conducted pre-clinical trials at the [Australian National University], CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. The initial results appear to induce good levels of T-cells, and the toxicology has been encouraging," he said.

The Australian research team was the only one awarded a grant by the US National Institutes of Health and the Bethesda Hospital in 2000, said Kelleher. "We won the grant because of our sound proposal, obviously, but also because of the unique way our group is made up," he contended.

Participating establishments included the UNSW, CSIRO, the ANU and the University of Melbourne. The research was supported by the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, and the Thai Red Cross.

"This was a real cooperative effort between all these people," claimed Kelleher. "We were able to bring a unique group of people together on this project, all with an equal say about the direction we took. There was nobody who wasn't working at full effort, or was just along for the ride on this," he said.

The consortium was made up from what Kelleher described as "an unusually wide span of people". He said that the group included molecular biologists, clinical researchers, social researchers and even community groups.

"We were able to bring together a unique breadth of people all with an equal say," he said.

The trial is expected to yield results by mid next year, with planning already going ahead for the Phase II trial in Thailand if the results are successful.

Kelleher noted the trial was also noteworthy for its homegrown origins. Apart from the DNA component which was sourced from Germany, all the rest of the research and production was local, he said.

"We are already synthesising the product with [Melbourne firm] IDT, the vaccine was produced at ANU, and the fowlpox component comes from CSIRO. It's really impressive that we have been able to do all of this in Australia.

"Our next target will be to trail a vaccine for the more common SE Asian strains of HIV. We are looking forward to more clinical trials," he added.