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A new compound has blocked H.I.V. infection so well in monkeys that it may be able to function as a vaccine against AIDS, the scientists who designed it reported Wednesday. H.I.V. has defied more than 30 years of conventional efforts to fashion a vaccine. The new method stimulates muscle cells to produce proteins that somewhat resemble normal antibodies, which have Y-shaped heads. These proteins have both a head and a tail, and they use them to simultaneously block two sites on each “spike” that the virus uses to attach itself to a cell. (McNeil, 2/18)

An effective vaccine for HIV has eluded researchers for several decades, because of the pathogen’s infamous shape-shifting abilities. Even though researchers have identified certain broadly neutralizing antibodies that can conquer multiple strains of the human immunodeficiency virus, many strains of rapidly mutating HIV remain resistant to these super antibodies. ... In experiments involving rats and monkeys, the researchers have used non-life-threatening viruses to alter the animals’ genome so that their cells produce designer molecules capable of neutralizing HIV. (Morin, 2/18)

Scientists have engineered a molecule they say can block infection with the virus that causes AIDS, a discovery that potentially could lead to a new therapy for patients as well as an alternative to a vaccine. Researchers have been trying for three decades to develop an effective vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. They are also searching for a way to cure infected people. But the ever-evolving virus has eluded them. (McKay, 2/18)