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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

#261

Post by Gigachad »

baristavibes wrote: post #213
thebradbain wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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’…

I agree in that no straight people (that i know) consider PrEP, although according to a quick search the HIV prevalence rate is twenty times lower in my country compared to the US. Obviously the human brain statistician goes out the window when comparing a lifelong illness with a few hours of discomfort, but would it be generally safe/worth it to put the entire population on PrEP during sexual activity? I heard that…

>a lifelong illness

Another thing to consider is it isn't a life long illness anymore. It's a life long subscription to a drug which neutralizes the threat and lets you live an entirely normal life without any problems other than having to take the drug periodically forever.

Certainly not ideal but its not like you suffer illness.

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

#262

Post by ianlevesque »

db1234 wrote: post #256

Does anyone know if mRNA tech can be potentially used to cure food allergy in the future? I know that the pattern is to train immune system to recognize a foreign object and attack it but is it possible to train immune system using mRNA to not attack in certain cases? I did come across a paper from 2018 regarding potential use of mRNA to fight food allergy but I haven't come across any updates since then.

I am very not a biologist but I can't picture how this would work. Immunotherapy for food allergies, specifically peanuts, involves basically microdosing the allergen until the immune system chills out. mRNA wouldn't help there, even if you made a vaccine that exposed a peanut protein it'd have the opposite effect you were going for. If you took a different approach and expressed a protein that suppresses the immune response, then in just days when the mRNA degrades the effect would be lost. I'm sure we will get many miracles from mRNA tech but this doesn't seem like a likely one to me.

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

#263

Post by andrewflnr »

dnautics wrote: post #236
mlyle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some known HIV "bnAbs", or broadly neutralizing antibodies. The thing is, these are not the antibodies most humans develop in response to HIV. Previous HIV vaccine attempts have only done a fair job at eliciting these broadly neutralizing responses. e.g. SAV001, a "whole killed" HIV vaccine, only produces broadly neutralizing antibodies in about a third of recipients (and less broadly neutralizing response in…

> "these are not the antibodies most humans develop in response to HIV." In many cases. One case, for example was identified from a prostitute in sub-saharan africa who managed to be completely HIV-free. It turned out she had a mutation in her antibodies that caused the antibodies to latch onto things with four sites instead of just 2 (think X shaped instead of V shaped).

That sounds fascinating. Got any links or search terms?

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

#264

Post by AussieWog93 »

Vrondi wrote: post #27
spamizbad wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason is that mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster than traditional vaccines. So the idea is you have a better chance of "outrunning" a strain.

Quoted post unavailable.

This is such an out of touch comment.

I ask that you please speak to some people in South Africa or Botswana where almost 20% of the population live with HIV, including children (both victims of rape - there was and still is the belief that having sex with a virgin can cure AIDS - and children of HIV-positive mothers who were born with the condition).

It's beyond inhuman, and if such a vaccine were to work it would be as impactful as the eradication of Polio (yes, I know it still exists in some places) or Smallpox.

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

#265

Post by retrac »

ineedasername wrote: post #48

How are human trials on high-risk low-incidence diseases like this conducted?

While HIV is a relatively low incidence in the general population globally, there are some specific regions and subpopulations in various countries at much higher risk. In short, they mostly test HIV vaccines on young, single gay men in the West and young, single heterosexuals in South Africa, Tanzania, etc.

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

#266

Post by tiahura »

f6v wrote: post #56
spamizbad wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason is that mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster than traditional vaccines. So the idea is you have a better chance of "outrunning" a strain.

I think slowly will come the realization that mRNA vaccines aren’t as fast to develop as people thought. Sputnik/AstraZeneca vaccines were released almost at the same time as Moderna/Pfizer. Yes, the latter were first commercial mRNA vaccines, but the technology is nevertheless rather mature. I watched a lecture by the people credited with creating mRNA vaccines and it turns out people have been working on the techno…

I think slowly will come the realization that mRNA vaccines aren’t as fast to develop as people thought.

It took 2 days to develop the vaccine. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/12/moderna-covid-19...

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

#267

Post by ismail »

oblio wrote: post #237
throw895389 wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Here's my take. This is the long term "mRNA platform" product plan slowly coming to fruition. Cool! When am I getting my free 5G?

Your comment insinuates a conspiracy theory, equating OP comment with theories of 5g causing COVID. It does not add much to the discussion and comes across as dismissive.

My experience is that as soon as we make a judgement call about someone, and put them in a pre-conceived box that we do agree with, we are unable to learn.

I went and re-read OP post. nothing in it is close to what you are insinuating.

Yes there may be some unsubstantiated claims, or calling out faucci but shutting down discussions with comments like yours are unhelpful.

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

#268

Post by throwaway73838 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #221
throwaway73838 wrote: post #166

Quoted post unavailable.

The same guy believes in homeopathy and that DNA can teleport via radio waves into a sample of pure water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_teleportation It's a whole thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease

It wasn’t just him saying that. I once went on a forum for a journal article, and there were two camps of biologists - those speaking about the similar sections, and those refuting the claims. I noticed that most of the refutations came from scientists with Chinese sounding names. I realize that this is just anecdotal, and you can choose to believe me or not. But that’s what I saw.

You may still be able to find it on Google.

Also, from the first para of his Wiki page:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Montagnier promoted the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus, was deliberately created and escaped from a laboratory. Such a claim has been refuted by other virologists.[6][7][8][9] He has been criticised by other academics for using his Nobel prize status to "spread dangerous health messages outside his field of knowledge".[10]

Looks like he’s been at least partially vindicated.

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

#269

Post by XorNot »

maxerickson wrote: post #253
mlyle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some known HIV "bnAbs", or broadly neutralizing antibodies. The thing is, these are not the antibodies most humans develop in response to HIV. Previous HIV vaccine attempts have only done a fair job at eliciting these broadly neutralizing responses. e.g. SAV001, a "whole killed" HIV vaccine, only produces broadly neutralizing antibodies in about a third of recipients (and less broadly neutralizing response in…

The IAVA press release discusses some of this: https://www.iavi.org/news-resources/press-releases/2022/iavi... Sounds like the mRNA platform is being tested as a delivery mechanism for immunological work that was done separately.

Specifically it's advantageous because bnAB development requires 2 separate immune stimulii applied over months. Injecting protein bolus (traditional vaccines) then requires something like 6+ separate, different vaccines - so 6 synthetic paths, production lines etc.

mRNA eliminates all of that. The 2 immune pathways can be combined into 1 vaccine, and the multiple vaccines can all be produced with the same synthetic pipeline and the same distribution and administration requirements.

mRNA may make a huge difference here.

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

#270

Post by dnautics »

andrewflnr wrote: post #263
dnautics wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "these are not the antibodies most humans develop in response to HIV." In many cases. One case, for example was identified from a prostitute in sub-saharan africa who managed to be completely HIV-free. It turned out she had a mutation in her antibodies that caused the antibodies to latch onto things with four sites instead of just 2 (think X shaped instead of V shaped).

That sounds fascinating. Got any links or search terms?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4136306/
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