Scientists Find Rare, Potent Antibody to HIV-1

[toni]

http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/duke_scientists_find_rare_potent_antibody_to_hiv_1

[markbao]

"The 2F5 antibody is especially valuable because previous research has shown it can successfully neutralize 80 percent of transmitted HIV viruses."

Wow, this is great news. Although they've only found one person(!) with said antibody, this is great to hear. Perhaps we'll have a vaccine after all.

[SapphireSun → markbao]

I dunno if this is such great news or not. Reading the article, it said that this antibody appeared in concert with autoantibodies. The price of having them might mean that you get an autoimmune disease instead of AIDS. Not fun in either case (although probably a step up).

Of course, the researchers might just isolate the part of the protein that makes it work and figure out more stuff. Perhaps happy days are ahead.