Will those hard-working humanized mice help get us to an AIDS vaccine? Scientists are sounding more optimistic.

“Allen led a recent study that caused a small stir in AIDS vaccine research circles. He and his colleagues found that BLT mice infected with HIV mounted cellular immune responses that closely mirrored those observed in HIV-infected humans, and moreover that HIV also escaped from those responses in a manner very similar to natural infection. Finally, Allen and his team found that BLT mice carrying a human immune-related gene associated with enhanced control of viral replication suppressed the virus in a way that was virtually identical to how humans who express that same gene control the virus. Allen said his lab is now looking at the potential to induce human HIV-specific immune responses in the humanized mice through vaccination.”

Dr. Todd Allen featured in VAX magazine article (Dec 2012).