Engineered B cells to produce HIV-blocking antibodies
Elicitation of HIV Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies from Engineered B cells
This work engineers B cells to make powerful HIV-blocking antibodies that could one day help protect people at risk or control HIV infection.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Scripps Research Institute, the NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (La Jolla, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11128369 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers remove B cells, reprogram them in the lab to carry genes for broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies, and return those engineered cells to the host so vaccine boosts can expand them. The team will refine how the cells are engineered and which vaccine steps best encourage durable antibody responses in mice. They will then translate the approach to rhesus macaques and use chimeric HIV/SIV (SHIV) challenges to test whether the responses can prevent infection or keep the virus suppressed. Results will show whether this engineered B cell vaccine approach is promising enough to consider future human testing.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: In the future, ideal candidates would likely be people at high risk for HIV exposure or people living with HIV who might enroll in clinical trials of cell-based antibody therapies.
Not a fit: Because this work is preclinical and performed in animals, patients cannot enroll now and will not receive direct medical benefit from this grant's current activities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could lead to a new vaccine-like therapy or functional cure that prevents HIV infection or durably suppresses viral load.
How similar studies have performed: Related work shows that broadly neutralizing antibodies can protect or suppress HIV in animal models and that engineered B cells produced durable antibodies in mice, but translating this to primates and humans is still novel and unproven.
Where this research is happening
La Jolla, United States
- Scripps Research Institute, the — La Jolla, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Voss, James Even — Scripps Research Institute, the
- Study coordinator: Voss, James Even
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.