【英语科技】美科学家发现迄今为止最有效艾滋病抗体

In a significant step toward an AIDS vaccine, U.S. government scientists have discovered three powerful antibodies, the strongest of which neutralizes 91% of HIV strains, more than any AIDS antibody yet discovered.

Looking closely at the strongest antibody, they have detailed exactly what part of the virus it targets and how it attacks that site.

The antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known in the scientific literature as Donor 45, whose body made the antibodies naturally. Researchers screened 25 million of his cells to find 12 that produced the antibodies. Now the trick will be for scientists to develop a vaccine or other methods to make anyone's body produce them.

That effort 'will require work,' said Gary Nabel, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was a leader of the research. 'We're going to be at this for a while' before any benefit is seen in the clinic, he said.

The research was published Thursday in two papers in the online edition of the journal Science, 10 days before the opening of the large International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where prevention science is expected to take center stage.

More than 33 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2008, and about 2.7 million contracted the virus that year, according to United Nations estimates. Vaccines, which are believed to work by activating the body's ability to produce antibodies, eliminated or curtailed smallpox, polio and other once-feared viral diseases, so they have been the holy grail of AIDS research.

Mark Schoofs

美国政府科学家发现了三种强力抗体，其中最强的可以使91%的艾滋病病毒(HIV)毒株失活，比目前为止发现的任何艾滋病(AIDS)抗体都要有效，进而朝着研制AIDS疫苗的方向上迈出了重要一步。

研究报告发表在周四的《科学》(Science)杂志网络版的两篇文章中。在那之后10天，国际艾滋病大会(International AIDS Conference)将在维也纳开幕，预计届时预防科学将成为主角。

据联合国(United Nations)估计，截至2008年底，有3,300多万人感染了HIV，去年约有270万人感染了这种病毒。人类已经研制出了消除或减轻天花、小儿麻痹症和其他曾经让人谈虎色变的病毒性疾病的疫苗，因此疫苗也一直是AIDS研究中所努力追求的目标。据信，疫苗可以激活人体产生抗体的能力，进而发挥作用。

Mark Schoofs