MVA-BN-Nef is an experimental therapeutic vaccine. Therapeutic vaccines are being developed for use in HIV-infected people to stimulate the immune system and slow the progression of HIV disease.

MVA-BN-Nef gets its name from the use of a virus vector called modified vaccinia virus Ankara-Bavarian Nordic. This virus vector has been modified so that it expresses the HIV gene nef.

MVA-BN-Nef vaccine has been developed by German researchers led by a team from the University of Erlangen.

Current research

An initial safety study of MVA-BN-Nef vaccine has been conducted in 14 HIV-infected people who were taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Immunisation occurred at weeks 0, 4 and 16, and HAART was ceased in all patients two weeks after the third vaccination.

At 18 weeks, a majority of patients experienced improvements in their HIV-specific immune responses. Five people have resumed HAART, but nine remained off treatment after 12 to 28 weeks with an average viral load of 8500 copies/ml. Five of the nine patients had viral loads below pre-HAART levels (Harrer 2003).

Reference

Harrer E et al. Phase-I study with a therapeutic MVa-BN-Nef vaccine in HIV-1 infected patients on HAART. Tenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Boston, abstract 60, 2003.