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Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

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Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#151

Post by copo233 »

macilacilove wrote: post #141
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #10

As I understand it, the reason an HIV vaccine has been so difficult to create is that HIV mutates so easily. I understand the basics behind how mRNA vaccines are generated, but I don't understand why this approach would be expected to have any more success in evading the high mutation potential of HIV than other vaccine types. After all, it was even a concern with new coronavirus variants that the original Moderna va…

> As I understand it, the reason an HIV vaccine has been so difficult to create is that HIV mutates so easily. Nope. There are exactly two species of HIV since at least the '80s. HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV however can trick the immune system into creating non-neutralizing antibodies, that can't fully prevent the progression of the infection. If you run a large pharma company you probably already make a lot of money from lo…

You're gonna need a citation or two for all of that.

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#152

Post by yakshaving_jgt »

adamrezich wrote: post #132
yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the general public’s perception of the consequences of infection are different depending on the disease. I think most people see it as “covid = bad cold; HIV = death”.

but surely more people would say "my lifestyle choices mean that I'm never going to be exposed to HIV so I don't need a vaccine for it" than ditto for covid?

I think unprotected sex is more common than many people in wealthy countries realise.

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#154

Post by thebradbain »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #10

As I understand it, the reason an HIV vaccine has been so difficult to create is that HIV mutates so easily. I understand the basics behind how mRNA vaccines are generated, but I don't understand why this approach would be expected to have any more success in evading the high mutation potential of HIV than other vaccine types. After all, it was even a concern with new coronavirus variants that the original Moderna va…

I’m not a doctor, but as a gay man: it’s my understanding HIV doesn’t mutate in the same way a disease like Covid does, at least not in the sense that there’s as many opportunities to spread (i.e. not airborne), so while HIV may actually mutate more in theory, it gets less chances to spread, so less completely-different variants become widespread.

Also, as part of “stopping the spread” PrEP has existed for years. It’s still proven to be effective protection against contracting HIV even if directly exposed (though it’s a pill that must be taken every day rather than a vaccine). There’s also PEP that helps make you undetectable (untransmissable) if you do contract it (and as such, it’s no longer what many people still mistakenly regard as a death sentence).

I honestly don’t know why everyone who is sexually active isn’t on PrEP (the federal government even mandates it be free to those without insurance in most cases)— it should be as common practice as wearing a condom and birth control, yet its existence isn’t even known to many people (especially among straight people).

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#155

Post by khazhoux »

somesanityplz wrote: post #146
khazhoux wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, given that it's a new (throwaway?) account used to post in a thread about a vaccine, there's a high chance this is another neo-anti-vaxxer, here to tell us why this is "not a vaccine" and all that.

I am just making a couple of considerations about you, audience, considering I silently read what you comment for years already. This is not a throwaway account. I just felt the need to express my opinion, if you are sad about that, and the only way to answer me is to label me as a "neo-anti-vaxer" you are just demonstrating my point.

But see, you didn't actually make a point in your original comment. I don't mean that rudely. You referred to the "arrogance [we] likely use to discuss the correctness of [our] code." What are actually saying here?

If you want to engage in discussion, I encourage you to use plain language. Accuse the community directly of whatever charge you're bringing, and then we can debate.

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#156

Post by snovv_crash »

peteradio wrote: post #114
solarkraft wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> well actually no it’s pretty obvious If you think they're right you may not understand why the comment is being down voted. > The current Covid-19 vaccines are proven to lose efficacy over time. Will the same thing happen with this one as well? Like with any vaccine: Probably. > It’s a good question It's pretty besides the point. To recycle my car brakes analogy: They also lose efficacy over time, yet are widely co…

Car brake dust is an extremely potent carcinogen, take care when dealing with them.

At least they don't make them from asbestos anymore.

My dad tells me about taking shop class in high school, and they'd be sanding down asbestos brake pads with an angle grinder to remove the high spots to prevent glazing. No masks of course.

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#157

Post by el_benhameen »

CommanderData wrote: post #101
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #70

I wonder if we'll see HSV also addressed by this new wave of mRNA vaccines, or if it's just not top of mind for companies and researchers due to its "mostly benign" nature. At least until one's immune system starts to weaken with advanced age and it starts to cause all sorts of problems, but perhaps by then it gets swept under the "problems of aging" rug.

I have an interest in this too, with most of the worlds population infected with some type HSV and being linked to Alzheimer's disease, MS and many horrible disease. It's about time we defeat HSV too!

Epstein-barr virus is in that same category of “lots of latent, lifelong infections that are maybe linked to a ton of age-related diseases in weird ways”. No idea if it’s a potential target, but would be pretty cool!

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#158

Post by TaylorAlexander »

Unklejoe wrote: post #97
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #70

I wonder if we'll see HSV also addressed by this new wave of mRNA vaccines, or if it's just not top of mind for companies and researchers due to its "mostly benign" nature. At least until one's immune system starts to weaken with advanced age and it starts to cause all sorts of problems, but perhaps by then it gets swept under the "problems of aging" rug.

Dr. Friedman and team at UPenn are working on exactly this. An mRNA based prophylactic (and also potentially therapeutic) vaccine for HSV. I think they were originally using some other form of vaccine (a protein vaccine?), but then realized that mRNA was a lot better. He has posted a few video updates on the progress, and it looks good, but of course it hasn't entered phase 1 yet (supposed to start this year).

Yes there are multiple efforts with that one being I think the most promising. They hope to cure the first humans of HSV in 2024. I believe they have all the funding they need for now, having raised over $500k.

More details on this subreddit and specifically this sticky: https://www.reddit.com/r/HerpesCureResearch/comments/kg66ds/...

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#159

Post by abeppu »

meepmorp wrote: post #92
abeppu wrote: post #12

I'm a bit confused by the timing of this. Here's a press release from only a couple months ago, in which a Moderna partnership on an mRNA vaccine showed some benefit in macaques, but mostly in delaying infection (i.e. most macaques in the treatment group still got SHIV). Only two of seven in the treatment group actually remained uninfected. It sounded like researches wanted to refine and validate their protocol befor…

2 out of 7 macaques didn't get infected after 13 weekly (anally administered) exposures to SHIV. The other 5 averaged 8 exposures before infection took place vs 3 exposures in the control group. That's actually pretty good at preventing infection - 28.5% avoided infection completely, with the remainder clearly having a much more robust immunity than control.

I mean, it seems like it did _something_ meaningful. But if you were part of an at-risk population, how promising would you really consider an animal trial that, for most treatment subjects, delayed infection by 5 weeks? Note, these animals had received multiple vaccines/boosters spaced out over a year before they were exposed to SHIV, i.e they spent 10x as long being vaccinated as they resisted infection.

Re: Moderna’s HIV vaccine has officially begun human trials

#160

Post by marcosdumay »

megaman821 wrote: post #25
rubyist5eva wrote: post #6

> We could be getting even closer to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Not if it's anything like the Covid-19 vaccines that don't stop someone from contracting or spreading it.

The Covid-19 vaccines were made against the original strain in which it was 95% effective. Let's see how the updated Omicron vaccine goes. I am guessing we are going to see above 90% effectiveness. mRNA vaccines are looking pretty promising at neutralizing the specific virus they are targeting. How effective that is for mutated and related viruses is what remains to be seen.

> How effective that is for mutated and related viruses is what remains to be seen.

I imagine that depends much more on the virus than on the vaccine.

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