Researchers led by the AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa have shown that HIV-infected cells when they generate proteins also create other defective viruses that cause an immune response, detection that identifies new therapeutic targets for the development of HIV vaccine.

The study, published in ‘Journal of Experimental Medicine,’ also shows that in the laboratory, the immune response created is able to block the virus infection cycle.

Research professor and researcher IrsiCaixa Icrea, Christian Brander, has coordinated a research group with members IrsiCaixa Harvard University in Boston, of Microsoft Research and the British Columbia, Canada, with the aim of find new targets. Brander is also currently the scientific coordinator of a research program of HIV vaccine called HIVACAT.The study examined genetic information from more than 600 people and over 500 variants of the virus. So far the studies have focused on the immune response against HIV focused on how the immune system interacts with proteins of the virus, but not in those generated by mistake in the translation of viral genes.

The new study reveals that to forecast the development will have a virus in a person and in specific populations will also need to take into account the proteins generated by mistake.

Brander had previously participated in other studies which already showed that the gene that predominates in each area of the planet is related to the diversity of HIV in the world, so he concluded that he had to take into account the genetic profile of the regions to to develop a vaccine.

The researcher said that the new study shows that also should take into account the existence of the immune response against proteins that are generated by mistake. “Even we believe there will include some of these proteins in the development of HIV vaccines,” he added.