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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2008;299(1):29.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Vectors used to create experimental HIV vaccines could do patients more harm than good by dampening the immune response to a natural infection, according to animal studies performed at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia (Lin SW et al. J Clin Invest. 2007;117[12]:3958-3970). The findings suggest that recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) may undermine the immune system and should not be used for vaccine development.

Specifically, while rAAV properly induces HIV-specific T cells of the immune system, those cells are functionally impaired. In studies conducted in mice, HIV-specific T cells induced by the rAAV vector only poorly protected animals from subsequent infection, failed to secrete adequate levels of immune system–activating cytokines, and displayed a severely impaired ability to proliferate.

The study may help explain why HIV clinical trials with rAAV vectors have yielded disappointing results. The authors suggest that rAAV may be detrimental to patients with HIV by increasing . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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