Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!usc!ucla-cs!3KSNFZM%UIUCVMD.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu
From: 3KSNFZM%UIUCVMD.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Edward A. Lisowski)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: (1673) Re: AIDS
Message-ID: <31683@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 7 Feb 90 16:14:07 GMT
Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU
Lines: 17
Approved: aids@cs.ucla.edu
Archive-number: 1674

One problem with developing an HIV vaccine is the hypervariability of the
virus.  Human antibodies recognize a three dimensional arrangement of proteins
and sugars on the viral coat.  Its genetic variability is considerably higher
than in most other disease-causing organisms.  Human antibodies are highly
specific, and it is possible that antibodies formed at the time of the original
infection may not recognize the glyco-protein coat of different strain of HIV
after the original HIV has undergone several mutational events.

I like to use a lock-and-key analogy, where the lock is the glyco-protein coat
of HIV and the key is a human antibody.  HIV is very good at changing the pins
in its "lock", so that the antibody's "key" no longer works (that is, recog-
nizes the virus as an invader).  The ideal HIV vaccine will produce antibodies
that work like a "skeleton key" that can recognize all the possible "locks"
into which HIV can mutate.

EDWARD A. LISOWSKI           BITNET:  3KSNFZM@UIUCVMD
                                      LISOWSKI@UIUCDENR