Chicago: US researchers have discovered two powerful new anti-bodies which could hold the key to achieving a viable AIDS vaccine, according to a study published on Friday in the journal Science.
The anti-bodies are produced naturally by a minority of people infected with HIV and are able to neutralise a high percentage of the many types of the virus currently in circulation worldwide.
Researchers in California believe they can create an effective vaccine if they are able to stimulate the body to produce such "broadly neutralising" anti-bodies before exposure to HIV.
"The findings themselves are an exciting advance toward the goal of an effective AIDS vaccine because now we've got a new, potentially better target on HIV to focus our efforts for vaccine design," said Wayne Koff, senior vice president of research and development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
"And having identified this one, we're set up to find more, which should further accelerate global efforts in AIDS vaccine development."
These are the first broadly neutralising anti-bodies to have been identified in more than a decade and are the first from donors in developing countries, where 95 per cent of new HIV infections occur.