THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF AN ANTI-HIV CANDIDATE VACCINE

A chimpanzee infected with the HIV since 8 months and presenting regul arly with antigenemiae was inoculated with a candidate vaccine. It rec eived 3 doses, one dose every 15 days. Thirty days after the third inj ection, we noted the disappereance of the MN antigens in the serum and its persistence in the lysate of the cells. We noted also a strong pr ecipitation reaction both in the tube and in the gel between the antib odies and the antigens released by the lysis of the cells. The analysi s of this precipitate demonstrated that it was constituted of immune c omplexes in which the antibodies were of high affinity. At the 240th d ay after the third injection of the candidate vaccine we noted the dis appearance of the HIV antigens in the lysate of cells as well. From th ese results; we conclude that the candidate vaccine we tested can elic it high affinity antibodies able to clear the HIV antigens and destroy the cells containing the HIV antigens probably with the help of speci fic killer cells.