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HIV: Supercharged Vaccine Could Protect Well With Just One Dose
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A supercharged HIV vaccine could offer strong protection with just one injection, a study in mice has indicated.
Developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Scripps Research Center, the vaccine includes two "adjuvants"—materials that help stimulate the immune system response.
In the experiments, the dual-adjuvant vaccine was found to produce a wider diversity of antibodies to protect against an HIV protein than with either single adjuvant or none at all.
This was because the vaccine accumulated in the mice's lymph nodes and remained there for a month—giving their immune systems more time to build up antibodies against HIV.
"What's potentially powerful about this approach is that you can achieve long-term exposures based on a combination of adjuvants that are already reasonably well-understood, so it doesn't require a different technology," said paper author and MIT chemical engineer professor J. Christopher Love in a statement.
And, the researchers said, the same approach could be used to create one-shot-only vaccines against other diseases, including COVID-19 and influenza.
A man receives a vaccination.
A man receives a vaccination.
Rani Nurlaela Desandi/iStock / Getty Images Plus
Most vaccines administered today are accompanied by adjuvants to help make them more effective.
One often used with protein-based vaccines—such as given against hepatitis A and B—is "alum," short for "aluminum hydroxide." Alum activates the body's innate immune response, helping it to form a stronger memory of the vaccine antigen in case of a real infection.
The new HIV vaccine combines alum with a nanoparticle known as SMNP, which itself combines the FDA-approved, naturally derived adjacent saponin with an inflammation-promoting molecule.
In their study, the researchers found that the SMNP–alum combination helped the HIV protein in their vaccine both penetrate the protective layer of cells surrounding the lymph nodes without being broken down, as well as stay intact in the nodes for up to 28 days.
The lymph nodes are where protective "B cells" are exposed to antigens—the substances that the body uses to recognize a given infection—and learn to produce the antibodies to fight back.
Vaccine antigens (pink) concentrate in B cell follicles (cyan)
Vaccine antigens (pink) concentrate in B cell follicles (cyan)
MIT
"As a result, the B cells that are cycling in the lymph nodes are constantly being exposed to the antigen over that [up to 28 day] time period—and they get the chance to refine their solution to the antigen," Love explained.
He added: "When you think about the immune system sampling all of the possible solutions, the more chances we give it to identify an effective solution, the better."
When the researchers analyzed the RNA of the B cells from the vaccinated mice, they found that those who had received both adjuvants had produced a more diverse array of B Cells and antibodies than the other rodents.
In fact, those who received the dual-adjuvant vaccine produced more than twice as many unique B cells than those mice who received a single-adjuvant vaccine.
This, the team explained, increases the odds that the mice's immune systems will be able to produce antibodies against a variety of strains of HIV in the case of a future injection.
And the benefits of the dual-adjuvant tactic is not just limited to fighting HIV.
"This approach is compatible with many protein-based vaccines, so it offers the opportunity to engineer new formulations for these types of vaccines across a wide range of different diseases, such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2, or other pandemic outbreaks," said Love.
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Reference
Rodrigues, K. A., Zhang, Y. J., Lam, J., Aung, A., Morgan, D. M., Romanov, A., Maiorino, L., Yousefpour, P., Gibson, G., Ozorowski, G., Gregory, J. R., Amlashi, P., Van, R., Buckley, M., Ward, A. B., Schief, W. R., Love, J. C., & Irvine, D. J. (2025). Vaccines combining slow release and follicle targeting of antigens increase germinal center B cell diversity and clonal expansion. Science Translational Medicine, 17(803).
