Tackling AIDS

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $287 million to the search for a vaccine for HIV by opening communication among researchers around the world -- including some from the UW.

The project will last for five years and will consist of 16 consortia with 165 investigators from 19 countries. Four of these grants are Seattle-based.

This large-scale, collaborative effort differs from past HIV vaccine research, which has generally been conducted by small groups working independently.

"I think what the foundation is trying to do is make everyone work together," said Leo Stamatatos, director of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute's Viral Vaccines Program.

All researchers have agreed to share their discoveries with other investigators, both within and outside the program, to use central facilities for testing, and to compare results using the same standards.

Scientists are often territorial with their findings, UW researcher Joe Blattman said. They want to show a finished project rather than the mistakes made throughout the process. This new open communication between researchers will make researching more efficient, he added.

"Some of the best labs in the world will be sharing data," he said. "This immediately cuts out everyone

making the same mistakes."

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, destroys a group of white blood cells called T-cells that help fight bacteria, viruses and other germs. This weakens the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable to infection and disease.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the entire spectrum of illnesses and symptoms that can occur when the immune system is significantly depleted.

A vaccine would prevent the virus from infecting the body.

Each consortium will research a different aspect of the vaccine.

Stamatatos, who received $19.4 million, will focus on the design of immunogens, substances that provoke an immune response when introduced to the body and will elicit the generation of protective antibodies.

So far efforts to elicit antibodies against these constant regions have failed. Stamatatos and his team will attempt to design immunogens that will elicit antibodies against the constant regions of HIV.

"What remains constant is the target for the vaccine," Stamatatos said.

Several researchers will aid Stamatatos and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, including a UW group led by biochemistry professor David Baker.

Blattman and co-investigator Phil Greenberg, a UW medicine and immunology professor, will head one of the five core laboratories. They plan to remove genes from lab mice and insert human genes in order to find a human response when testing vaccines.

"Very little has been done in terms of good mouse models for HIV," Blattman said.

This will give researchers an efficient model for screening vaccines. Testing each vaccine in a human would be too time consuming, Greenberg said.

"This type of research is not funded by others because it's very expensive to maintain these kinds of mice," Blattman said. "But, it's justified because we're working with so many scientists."

Researchers measuring T-cell response will use the mice.

Though Stamatatos will be using lab rabbits to test about 200 different immunogens, mice could possibly be used for anti-bodies in the future, he said.

In addition to funding the consortia, the foundation will also provide a governing body to look at labs and decide which will be re-funded in order to use resources most efficiently.

Researchers also agreed to make their findings accessible and affordable for those in developing countries, where more than 90 percent of AIDS patients live.

In some parts of Africa AIDS causes more than half of adults' deaths. Eleven thousand new HIV infections occur every day, while 40 million worldwide have become infected within the past two decades.