HIV vaccine efforts are undermined by off-target antibodies ANI 29 Jul 2021, 13:37 GMT+10 California [US], July 29 (ANI): Some proof-of-concept HIV vaccines in early human trials generate antibodies that actively hinder protection by degrading the vaccine's payload, suggests a new study from Scripps Research. Their study was published in the journal Science Advances. While scientists have had rapid success engineering vaccines against the pandemic coronavirus in less than a year's time, HIV, the virus responsible for the AIDS epidemic, has proven significantly more challenging. Understanding how "off-target" antibodies may be undermining HIV vaccine prototypes allows for design improvements, says the study's lead author, Andrew Ward, PhD, a structural biology professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA.