HIV vaccine breakthrough

AN HIV vaccine may be a short step away now that scientists have overcome a major stumbling block.

The hurdle was the inability to generate immune cells that stay in circulation long enough to stop the virus spreading.

Lead scientist Professor Jonathan Heeney, from Cambridge University, said: ‘For a vaccine to work, its effects need to be long lasting. It isn’t practical to require people to come back every six to 12 months to be vaccinated.’

The researchers compared their achievement, reported in the Journal of Virology, to ‘preventing a key getting stuck in a lock’.