Research on an AIDS vaccine has been ongoing for years. Very few positive results have been achieved. More recently the focus has been on broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). Broadly neutralizing antibodies show up naturally in a person infected with HIV only later in the infection. These antibodies have been shown to be effective in neutralizing the HIV virus but only if they appear early in HIV infection. There is some discussion about developing bNAbs to fight the flu or ebola. Also, there is discussion about isolating these antibodies from large numbers of people and pooling them to also make a passive immunization vaccine.
For HIV there is some investigation in trying to develop a vaccine which elicits bNAbs.
In your investigation of this problem, determine why the vaccines developed in the past have largely been ineffective in preventing AIDS.
Also, answer the following questions.
Why are bNAbs effective?
How do bNAbs work at the molecular level at the antibody binding site?
How do bNAbs work at the molecular level at the antibody binding site?
Why are they more effective than other antibodies in early infection?
Why are they produced later in HIV infection?
Could bNAbs be isolated and purified and used in a passive vaccine? If so how could they be harvested?
DUE NOV 7
DUE NOV 7
