[Press kit]

a part of the anthrax bacillus, rendered harmless, as a way to promote entry of HIV
vaccine components into cells, so they can be appropriately processed to induce a
protective immune response by killer T cells.
Ann B. Hill, Ph.D., Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, $75,000.
Viruses that do not cause disease can be used as vectors to carry genes coding for HIV
vaccine components into cells that make an immune response. One problem with this
approach is that a person can become immune to the carrier virus thereby blocking the
ability to ever use that vaccine again in that person. Dr. Hill will study the potential of
using 5 different vectors in rotation, as well as different HIV components. Before
studies can be performed in humans, protection against an animal virus called SIV, which
is similar to HIV, will be studied in a monkey model.
Shiu-Lok Hu, Ph.D., The University of Washington, Seattle, WA, $75,000. A
desirable goal for an effective vaccine is to induce antibodies that will neutralize the
virus, i.e., render it harmless. However, HIV isolates obtained from patients are
difficult to neutralize. One of the strategies used by the virus to escape antibody
neutralization is to create a moving target of ever-changing sugar molecules that coat the
external virus proteins. Dr. Hu will determine if the virus could be made more
susceptible to neutralization by partially preventing the formation of these sugar
molecules on the virus's surface. If so, a more accessible surface protein would be a
better candidate for an anti-HIV vaccine.
* Hilary Koprowski, M.D., Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, $75,000.
Dr. Koprowski has found that viral antigens produced in plants, when given as vaccines
to animals, stimulate immunity in all parts of the body including in the mucous
membranes that frequently are sites for HIV infection. With this award, Dr. Koprowski
will engineer plant viruses to manufacture either proteins or protein complexes of HIV.
He will develop a novel approach for their delivery by using harmless recombinant plant
viruses and assess the immune responses so stimulated in both mice and monkeys. The
goal of this research is to develop a novel system for the production of inexpensive, safe,
possibly orally administered, and highly effective vaccine antigens to elicit protective
immunization against HIV.
* Richard A. Koup, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,
TX, $125,000. Except in very rare cases, once an individual becomes infected with
HIV, the immune system is unable to clear the infection. Dr. Koup will determine if
HIV has genes that allow it to hide from the immune system and escape the immune
response that would otherwise clear the virus from the body. Such a mechanism would
account for the failure of even the best immune responses to remove infected cells from
an individual. Identifying and understanding this mechanism is important with respect
to developing effective anti-HIV vaccines as well as new strategies for boosting the
potency of relevant immune functions to permit eventual complete clearing of HIV.
* Dan R. Littman, M.D., Ph.D., New York University Medical Center, New York,