Edible HIV Vaccine Breakthrough, Emma Young, NewScientist.com
The answer to finding an easily-produced, more effective and safer HIV vaccine may be found in a food that ancient peoples have relied upon throughout history: maize. And according to Emma Young in NewScientist.com, the vaccine will have the important advantage over all other vaccines of being ingestible, therefore not requiring the use of needles to administer it. The protein--SIV gp120, developed by U.S. company ProdiGene--will be tested against injectable vaccines in a study in Thailand later this year. Researchers expect the protein to provoke an immunity response in areas of the body where injected vaccines will not. If SIVgp120 reacts as is anticipated, we may soon have a vaccine that is cheaper, more plentiful, and more stable than established vaccines.
--Julie Madsen
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