HIV Vaccine Tests in Primates Point to the Potential for Future Developments

By: Marcus J. Hopkins, Health Policy Lead Consultant, ADAP Advocacy

Research published in Nature found that germline-targeting vaccines administered in primates were the first to generate high numbers of ‘broadly neutralizing ' virus-fighting antibodies against HIV (Steichen et al., 2026).

Source: Nature

This vaccine, a collaboration between La Jolla Institute for Immunology and Scripps Research, works by trying to find rare naïve B cells (white blood cells, also called lymphocytes), and using a series of booster shots to get them to produce “broadly neutralizing antibodies” (bnAbs). Using 24 rhesus macaques split into four groups of six, Steichen et al. produced bnAb lineages in at least 50% of the animals, with individual antibodies reaching up to 67% of the neutralization breadth of the human BG18 antibody.

This practice, commonly referred to as “germline targeting,” essentially preempts the vaccine virus by creating antibodies that could provide between 50% and 90% protection against HIV transmission.

And “could” is the primary word here:

While Steichen et al. attempted to find these rare B cells and get them to produce the desired antibodies, they did not actually test the efficacy of these antibodies in any scientific, clinical, or real-world setting. This means that, while this is an exciting scientific breakthrough, there is little evidence that any near-term vaccines will be developed using this process, in no small part because successfully identifying and targeting these very rare B cells (which are, admittedly, rarer in humans than rhesus macaques) is both incredibly difficult and very much a trial-and-error process that seems to be reliant upon individual animal genetics.

Exciting news, to be certain.

Source: CDC

In many ways, however, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) provides similar prevention efficacy, with Yeztugo (Gilead Sciences) showing up to 100% efficacy in biological females in one trial and 96% in a second, primarily male drug-trial cohort (Patel et al., 2025).

While PrEP is not a vaccine regimen, it does provide excellent protection against the acquisition of HIV! 

The development of an HIV vaccine presents significant challenges due to the virus's rapid mutations, its ability to integrate into the host's DNA, and its mechanisms for evading the immune response. Conventional vaccines function by training the immune system to identify consistent pathogen features. In contrast, HIV employs strategies that counter this approach. Although research from the La Jolla Institute demonstrates potential, it remains, under specific circumstances, the most recent effort aimed at eradicating HIV.

Disclaimer: All funders of the ADAP Advocacy Association are publicly listed on our website. 

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association; rather, they provide a neutral platform for the author to promote open, honest discussion of public health-related issues and updates.

References:

[1] Patel, R. R., Hoover, K. W., Lale, A., Cabrales, J., Byrd, K. M., & Kourtis, A. P. (2025, September 18). Clinical Recommendation for the Use of Injectable Lenacapavir as HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis — United States, 2025. MMWR, 74(35), 541-540 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7435a1.htm

[2] Steichen, J. M., Madden, P. J., Flynn, C. T., Phulera, S., Shil, M., Kalyuzhniy, O., Liguori, A., Kifude, C., Sewall, L. M., Cottrell, C. A., Ma, K. M., Baboo, S., Diedrich, J. K., McKenney, K., deCamp, A. C., Carnathan, D. G., Phung, I., Ramezani-Rad, P., Marina-Zárate, E., Freeman, B., … Schief, W. R. (2026, June 30). Vaccination elicits HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies in primates. Nature, 656, 723-733. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10837-5

A Recent Milestone in HIV Treatment: The 10th Patient

By: Jonathan Sosa, Guest Blog Contributor, ADAP Advocacy

Recently, a Norwegian man became the 10th person ever to be cured of HIV. It represents another step forward in understanding how long-term remission can be achieved for those living with HIV. The news also still offers hope for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) that a cure is possible, while also offering some good news for the HIV community–which has been battered by a presidential administration gutting long-established and proven safety-net programs that have served as the backbone of the nation’s care continuum for them.

Photo Source: Live Science | Dr_Microbe via Getty Images

The 63-year-old Norwegian patient received a stem cell transplant from his brother, who carries a rare genetic mutation known as CCR5-delta 32. This mutation prevents HIV from entering immune cells, effectively blocking the virus from spreading within the body. 

Following the transplant, the patient discontinued antiretroviral therapy (ART) and has shown no detectable viral load (Glassman-Hughes, 2026; Gometz, 2026). While cases like this are rare, they prove that eliminating HIV from the body is possible nonetheless. 

Limits of this treatment approach 

Despite the significance of this case, there are limitations that prevent it from being a universal solution for curing HIV/AIDS. 

First, stem cell transplants are complex, high-risk procedures usually done on patients who have cancer. In other words, these are not common procedures (or even the safest options) for most PLWHA. 

Second, the 10th man cured from HIV/AIDS has a brother with a natural mutation that creates a natural resistance to it. However, there are not many donors that may have this CCR5 mutation, which limits the ability to scale this approach to others living with HIV/AIDS. Due to limitations like these, researchers are not viewing this case as a universal solution but as insight into how the disease can be cured in more people moving forward. 

Photo Source: WowRx

Why HIV/AIDS funding matters 

The HIV community has expressed concern with feeling under attack, since policies regarding funding are being called into question, and in some cases gutted or eliminated as proposed in the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget blueprint. This uncertainty makes continued scientific progress even more important. It shows why HIV funding matters. 

Despite pressures on HIV advocacy and proposed funding cuts, there is still promising news, like the cure for the 'Oslo patient'. Each new case is evidence that a cure to HIV is possible. Prior to this case, several other HIV patients who underwent comparable transplants had achieved long-term remission from the infection (Lanese, 2026).

Continued progress in HIV treatment is driven by ongoing research efforts to find a cure. According to the National Institutes of Health, current strategies include gene-editing techniques designed to replicate the CCR5 mutation, immune-based therapies targeting hidden viral reservoirs, and approaches aimed at activating and eliminating latent viral reservoirs within the body (National Institutes of Health, 2026). 

These research efforts reinforce why continued investment in HIV research remains essential for providing accessible care. Although challenges remain, progress is being made, and cases like these prove why research and investment into HIV care should be supported.

Disclaimer: All of the funders of the ADAP Advocacy Association are publicly available online at https://www.adapadvocacy.org/support.html. 

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association; rather, they provide a neutral platform for the author to promote open, honest discussion of public health-related issues and updates.

References:

[1] Lanese, Nicoletta. (2026, April 13). Oslo patient likely cured of HIV after getting stem cell transplant from his brother who is genetically resistant to the virus. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/health/hiv/oslo-patient-likely-cured-of-hiv-after-getting-stem-cell-transplant-from-his-brother-who-is-genetically-resistant-to-the-virus

[2] National Institutes of Health. (2025, April 15). Research toward an HIV cure: Research priorities overview. NIH Office of AIDS Research. https://www.oar.nih.gov/hiv-policy-and-research/research-priorities-overview/research-toward-hiv-cure

[3] Glassman-Hughes, Emma. (2026, April 14). Norwegian man is 10th person cured of HIV thanks to his brother. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/04/14/health/norwegian-man-is-10th-person-cured-of-hiv-thanks-to-his-brother/

[4] Gometz, Emma (2026, April 13). Person functionally cured of HIV after bone marrow transplant from sibling. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/person-functionally-cured-of-hiv-after-bone-marrow-transplant-from-sibling/

HIV Cure: Trial and Error Sheds New Light

By: Ranier Simons, ADAP Blog Guest Contributor

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at the end of 2021, about 38.4 million people globally were living with HIV/AIDS.[1] Medical science has advanced through the years, creating novel treatments for many illnesses, eradicating diseases from the global population, and finding cures for others. However, a permanent cure for HIV remains elusive. Researchers have recently announced a fifth person that has been cured of HIV. While the news is exciting and further adds to knowledge about the virus, the mechanism of the cure is not scalable. Additionally, it is important to note that a promising HIV-vaccine also recently failed advanced-stage clinical trials. 

Photo Source: Scientific Scarsdalian

A 53-year-old man, known as the "Dusseldorf patient", is the fifth and latest person to be cured of HIV due to a blood stem cell transplant.[2] This is the exact mechanism by which four other people have been cured of HIV. This man and the others received a blood stem cell transplant as an aggressive late-stage effort to treat leukemia. 

In 2013, doctors destroyed the patient's cancerous bone marrow and subsequently healthy bone marrow as well and replaced it with donor stem cells from a person who had a mutation that rendered them resistant to HIV infection.[3] The mutation was in the genes for the CCR5 receptor, a receptor HIV needs to enter immune cells. The mutation prevents the CCR5 receptor from being expressed on the surface of immune cells. The transplanted stem cells grew and replaced the old bone marrow, giving the patient a new HIV-resistant immune system. In 2018, the Dusseldorf patient stopped taking ART and has remained HIV-virus-free.[3]

The first person to be cured of HIV/AIDS as a result of a stem-cell transplant to treat blood cancer was Timothy Ray Brown in 2007. He was known as the "Berlin patient", and his cure was confirmed in 2009. Another patient, the "London patient", was reported as being cured in 2019. A 63-year-old man known as the "City of Hope" patient and a woman known as the "New York patient" were reported in scientific literature in 2022 as being cured. The "City of Hope" patient, thus far, has been the person who has lived with HIV the longest. At one point in his HIV journey, he had an AIDS diagnosis, having had HIV since 1998.[4] 

Unfortunately, blood stem cell transplantation is not a scalable solution, and it is only used in extreme cases for people battling blood cancers with no other options. It cannot be used as a cure for all patients living with HIV because the risks are too significant. It is not guaranteed to work and is very dangerous since it requires wiping out a person's entire immune system, and that state leaves a patient open to infections with no protection. Additionally, it is possible a person's body could reject the donor stem cells as well.

Photo Source: POZ Magazine

January 2023 also brought news of a failed HIV-vaccine clinical trial. The Mosaico Study, a phase 3 clinical trial conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network(HVTN), was ended due to the results of an interim review.[5] The Mosaico Study vaccine was what is known as a 'mosaic vaccine.' This means that it contains genetic material from a variety of HIV strains prevalent worldwide to trigger a broad immune response.[5] The study focused on cisgender men and transgender people who have sex with cisgender men and/or transgender people from around the world. The failure of the trial was reported when it was found that the vaccine was ineffective in preventing infections compared with the placebo.[6]  Over the past 40 years, clinical trials on HIV vaccines have reached phase 3 only eight times.[6] All have failed.

A significant factor in why HIV is so challenging to cure is how it operates. When HIV enters the body, some of the immune cells it infects are long-lived immune cells that soon become latent. Those sleeping cells can stay dormant for years. While those infected immune cells are dormant, they are not replicating HIV. Antiretroviral therapies target infected cells that are actively replicating new copies of HIV. Thus, the "sleeping cells" are not being targeted. The latent or "sleeping" cells are what scientists refer to as HIV reservoirs in the body. Those infected cells can wake up and become active at any time. That is why it is essential to be consistent with antiretroviral adherence. 

We may not have a cure for HIV/AIDS. However, the disappointing vaccine trials and the science learned from the extreme stem cell transplants are still valuable and push us closer to conquering the virus. Trial and error will eventually produce powerful tools to beat HIV/AIDS.

[1] World Health Organization. (2023). HIV. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/hiv-aids#:~:text=Globally%2C%2038.4%20million%20%5B33.9%E2%80%93,considerably%20between%20countries%20and%20regions

[2] Sathyakumar, K. (2023, February 20). 5th person confirmed to be cured of HIV. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Health/5th-person-confirmed-cured-hiv/story?id=97323361

[3] Reardon, S.(2023, February 21). Third patient free of HIV after recieving virus-resistant cells. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00479-2

[4] Marquez, L.(2022, July 27). Patient achieves HIV and blood cancer remission three decades after HIV diagnosis through stem cell transplant at City of Hope. Retrieved from  https://www.cityofhope.org/patient-achieves-hiv-and-blood-cancer-remission-three-decades-after-hiv-diagnosis-through-stem-cell#:~:text=Known%20as%20the%20City%20of,is%20now%2066%20years%20old

[5] Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. (2023, January 27). Phase 3 Mosaic-Based Investigational HIV Vaccine Study Discontinued Following Disappointing Results of Planned Data Review. Retrived from https://www.hvtn.org/news/news-releases/2023/01/phase-3-mosaic-based-investigational-hiv-vaccine-study-discontinued-following-disappointing-results-planned-data-review.html

[6] Loewy, M. (2023, February 13). Researchers Voice 'Frustration' at Failed HIV Vaccine Trial. Retrieved from https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/988191#vp_1

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.  

Is a One-Shot HIV Therapy on the Horizon?

By: Ranier Simons, ADAP Blog Guest Contributor

The advent of new medicines has been fighting the scourge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic since the world became aware of it in 1981. Since, science has made many advances. Research birthed tests to detect the virus in the blood. Antiviral medications have evolved from AZT, and its serious adverse side effects, to the multi-drug daily one-pill regimens on the market today...and now injectable therapies. Despite all of the advances, there is still no cure. Medical science has made great strides in slowing down the virus and preventing infections in seronegative people. The disease has gone from being lethal to chronic. However, clearing it from the bodies of those currently infected is the goal scientists focus heavily on.

Medical science has turned to exploring genetic interventions when exploring ways to eradicate HIV from the body. Scientists have uncovered the various HIV genes and the viral proteins they produce.[1] This has facilitated the creation of drugs to block some of the virus’ activity inside the body. Now, science is focusing on how to genetically alter the human body to better fight against the virus. 

One such exploratory avenue is the genetic modification of the human immune system. Many people are familiar with the way HIV targets and damages the T-Cells, specifically the CD4 T-Cells. However, other parts of the human immune system are not as well known by the lay public, such as the B-Cells and the complement system. A new study out of Tel-Aviv involves the genetic modification of B-Cells using CRISPR and viral vectors. The future goal is a one-shot treatment for patients with HIV.[2]

Photo Source: Commonwealth Fund

The study examined engineering a person’s own B white blood cells to secrete high levels of anti-HIV antibodies in response to the virus.[2] Scientists have achieved some success in genetically engineering B-cells outside of the body. A few scientists have been able to use B-Cells engineered outside of the body to transplant into disease models with some success. However, the challenge is that using the approach for humans is very complicated. It requires very specialized medical centers, extensive blood compatibility testing of donor cells and recipients, and demanding protocols.[2] 

The promise of the new study out of Tel Aviv is that B-Cells inside one’s own body could be genetically modified. This simplifies the process and guarantees the compatibility of the genetically modified cells. The study was led by Adi Barzel, Ph.D. senior lecturer, and Alessio Nehmad, a Ph.D. student from the school of neurobiology, biochemistry, and biophysics at the George S. Wise faculty of life sciences and the Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies in collaboration with the Sourasky Medical Center.[2]

The process uses viruses in combination with CRISPR technology. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.[3] CRISPR technology was developed from how bacteria arm their immune system. The CRISPR technology can specifically identify specific stretches of a genome and cut it open. The Tel-Aviv study involves cutting open the DNA of B-cells and inserting genetic code that makes the cell generate neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies. 

Photo Source: Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Two viral carriers are used to ‘infect’ the B-cells.[4] This is not a harmful infection. The viruses infect the B-Cells then the CRISPR technology cuts into the B-Cell genome and the proper loci (or genetic location). At that point, the genetic “snippet” that codes for the anti-HIV neutralizing antibody is inserted into the genome and closed. Going forward, the cells begin to secrete the new anti-HIV antibodies. Encountering HIV in the blood stimulates the B-Cells replicated and secrete even more neutralizing antibodies. The most crucial note is that when the HIV virus changes or mutates, the newly engineered B-Cells will also change accordingly to fight the new viral variant.

This study is essential as it could lead to a vaccine or one-time treatment. Additionally, the same technology could be developed to treat other infectious diseases or certain cancers caused by viruses, such as cervical cancer.

[1] Li, G., Piampongsant, S., Faria, N.R. et al. An integrated map of HIV genome-wide variation from a population perspective. Retrovirology 12, 18 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12977-015-0148-6
[2] FCould a One-Shot Treatment for Patients with HIV Be on the Horizon? (2022, June 14). Retrieved from https://www.genengnews.com/virology/hiv/could-a-one-shot-treatment-for-patients-with-hiv-be-on-the-horizon/
[3] Broad Institute. (2022). What is “CRISPR”? Retrieved from https://www.broadinstitute.org/what-broad/areas-focus/project-spotlight/questions-and-answers-about-crispr
[4] Tel-Aviv University. (2022, June 13). A new technology offers treatment for HIV infection through a single injection. Retrieved from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-technology-treatment-hiv-infection.html

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.