The vaccine was developed by Dr. Rivka Aboulafia-Lapid and colleagues at Hadassah, along with scientists at Kaplan Medical Center and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and is currently undergoing clinical trials.
In trials, the vaccine was given to 13 patients in 33 injections, and has so far shown itself to be both non-toxic to patients and has succeeded in doubling their level of white-blood T-cells.
The research from this initial experiment was published in the Journal of Clinical Virology and Vaccine, although the scientists involved say a wider test audience is needed to confirm and expand on their results.
The team is continuing to work on the vaccine with funding from grants, and is preparing to vaccinate more patients in Beersheba, Tel Aviv and France.
AIDS attacks white-blood T-cells, called CD4, and as a result, researchers are trying to find a way to reproduce or rehabilitate T-cells in HIV/AIDS patients.
