A genetically engineered poliovirus vaccine appears to be an effective new strategy for an AIDS vaccine in women. Researchers from the University of California system and the National Cancer Institute report in the August 2001 issue of the Journal of Virology a poliovirus-based vaccine that protects monkeys from a highly virulent strain of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The vaccine is based on Sabin 1 and 2 vaccine strains against polio that were genetically engineered to display a variety of SIV proteins. Female macaques were then innoculated with this new virus and vaginally challenged with highly virulent strain of SIV. More than half the vaccinated group were protected against infection while all control monkeys became SIV positive. In addition, those vaccinated monkeys who became infected remained healthy while many in the control group progressed rapidly to clinical AIDS. "Here we provide the first report of protection against a vaginal challenge with a highly virulent SIV by using a vaccine vector," say the researchers. "It is possible that a similar strategy using a cocktail of multiple HIV antigens can be used to protect against diverse HIV strains."

(S. Crotty, C.J. Miller, B.L. Lohman, M.R. Neagu, L.Compton, D. Lu, F. X.-S. Lu, L. Fritts, J.D. Lifson and R. Andino. 2001. Protection against simian immunodeficiency virus vaginal challenge by using Sabin poliovirus vectors. Journal of Virology, 75: 7435-7452.)

Bacterial 'insults' induce drug resistance

Some bacteria don't need to be exposed to antibiotics to develop resistance, just other bacteria. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University report in the August 2001 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology that Salmonella bacteria exposed to a compound secreted by a strain of E.coli can develop multidrug resista
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Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology
7-Aug-2001