LA JOLLA, Calif., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- After years of research, scientists in California say they have isolated two antibodies that prevent human immunodeficiency virus from becoming full-blown AIDS.
The discovery could lead to a vaccine against AIDS, scientists at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla said.
Researchers collected blood samples from more than 1,800 people in Thailand, Australia and Africa who had been infected with HIV for at least three years without the infection developing into AIDS, Medpage reported Friday. Those people were deemed most likely to produce antibodies that interfere with the replication of the virus.
Two antibodies -- named PG9 and PG16 -- isolated from one African patient blocked about 75 percent of the 162 separate strains of HIV tested against it, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
"This is opening up a whole new area of science," said Dr. Seth Berkley, head of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which funded the research.
At least 33 million people worldwide are infected with AIDS, which has killed at least 25 million, the World Health Organization said.
