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HCV, HIV vaccine research focuses on indirect dendritic cell stimulation

Researchers in Australia are exploring a technique that could help to deliver a DNA vaccine for hepatitis C virus and HIV, according to a press release from the university.

Eric Gowans,PhD, professor at the University of Adelaide Discipline of Surgery, has submitted a patent for a technique that uses a protein to stimulate dendritic cells and the body’s immune system during vaccination and infection, the release said. The technique is in the pre-clinical phase, and a patient study is planned for 2015.

The protein would cause cell death and, in turn, activate a response from the dendritic cells during vaccination. The vaccination would be administered directly into the skin, where dendritic cells proliferate, as opposed to muscle tissue, the release said.

“There’s been a lot of work done in the past to target dendritic cells, but this has never been effective until now,” Gowans, who is seeking a commercial partner to advance his research, said in the release. “What we’ve done is incredibly simple. We’re not targeting the dendritic cells directly — instead, we’ve found an indirect way of getting them to do what we want.”

Gowans will present some of his research on the topic at the Australasian Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics Development Meeting in Australia during May.