NIAID Launches Three New AIDS Vaccine Trials

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06/13/95 14:08 '301 496 0019 NIH NEWS-2B25/31 003/011
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The new Phase I trials, called AVEG 019, 022 and 023, will look for any adverse side
effects and evaluate vaccine-induced immune responses. Because none of the vaccines in these
trials contain live or killed H[V, they pose no risk of transmitting HV infection or AIDS.
NIA.ID, part of the National Institutes of Health, supports biomedical research to prevent,
diagnose and treat illnesses such as AIDS, tuberculosis, asthma and allergies. NIH is an agency of
the U.S. Public Health Service, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Additional information about each trial follows.
AVEG 019
AVEG 019 is testing a novel HIV vaccine called pl7/p24:Ty-VLP made by British Biotech
Pharmaceuticals Limited of Oxford, United Kingdom. Copies of pieces of two internal HIV
proteins, p17 and p24, are incorporated with a yeast protein (Ty) that helps them assemble into
virus-like particles (VLPs). In ongoing small studies in humans, the vaccine so far appears to be
safe.
The trial has two main goals: first, to determine if the vaccine induces cellular immunity--
specifically, killer T cells--in addition to anti-V antibodies. Although the components of
protective immunity against HIV remain unknown, most investigators think that an effective HIV
vaccine will need to induce cellular immunity to destroy HIV-infected cells that have evaded
antibody protection. Second, the investigators will look for evidence that administering oral or
rectal booster doses stimulates antibodies at the mucosal surfaces lining the body's entryways,
where the virus is sexually transmitted.
The vaccine has the potential to react with a broad range of HIV strains because the p17

and p24 proteins on which it is modeled come from HIV's interior. Across multiple HV strains,
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