Pitisuttithum Punnee
Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Ratchawithi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
Curr HIV Res. 2005 Jan;3(1):17-30. doi: 10.2174/1570162052772933.
The HIV epidemic has resulted in medical, social and economic consequences. There is general agreement that a safe, effective and affordable preventive HIV vaccine is urgently needed to control the epidemic. To date, over 60 phase I/II trials of about 30 candidate vaccines have been conducted worldwide. In 1991, Thailand was selected by WHO, UNAIDS as one of the countries for potential HIV vaccine evaluation sites, and 10 projects with HIV phase I, II and III trials have been conducted since 1994. Strong national commitment, collaboration both at national and international levels together with infrastructure strengthening and capacity building, are very important for success. The vaccine designs pursued included synthetic peptides, recombinant protein and recombinant viral vectors followed by or with boosting doses of recombinant proteins. All phase I/II trials indicated that the candidate vaccines were safe and produced binding and a certain level of neutralizing antibodies. The recombinant vector vaccines produced both humoral and cell-mediated responses. The AIDSVAX phase III trial conducted in 1999 was the first efficacy trial of HIV vaccine in Thailand that brought valuable information for further HIV vaccine development. Recently, a phase III trial of ALVAC-HIV priming with AIDSVAX B/E boosting was launched in 2003, and the findings of this trial will be shared with the international community. With committed parties in medical science, government, industry and the community, we hope that we can achieve success in developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine in the near future.
艾滋病病毒的流行已带来医学、社会和经济方面的后果。人们普遍认为，迫切需要一种安全、有效且可负担得起的预防性艾滋病病毒疫苗来控制这一疫情。迄今为止，全球已对约30种候选疫苗进行了60多项I/II期试验。1991年，泰国被世界卫生组织、联合国艾滋病规划署选为潜在的艾滋病病毒疫苗评估地点之一，自1994年以来已开展了10项艾滋病病毒I、II和III期试验项目。强有力的国家承诺、国家和国际层面的合作以及基础设施的加强和能力建设，对于取得成功非常重要。所采用的疫苗设计包括合成肽、重组蛋白和重组病毒载体，随后或同时使用重组蛋白加强剂量。所有I/II期试验均表明，候选疫苗是安全的，并能产生结合抗体和一定水平的中和抗体。重组载体疫苗能产生体液免疫和细胞介导免疫反应。1999年进行的AIDSVAX III期试验是泰国首次进行的艾滋病病毒疫苗疗效试验，为进一步开发艾滋病病毒疫苗提供了宝贵信息。最近，一项用AIDSVAX B/E加强免疫的ALVAC-HIV初免III期试验于2003年启动，该试验结果将与国际社会分享。有了医学科学界、政府、产业界和社区等相关各方的共同努力，我们希望在不久的将来能够成功研发出一种安全有效的艾滋病病毒疫苗。
