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Release issued 20th November 2008
By Paul Mayne
Thursday, November 20, 2008
After more than 20 years of labouring on an HIV/AIDS vaccine, Yong Kang’s research has reached an historic moment.
Western virologist Yong Kang reviews a printout of DNA sampling with research associate Elizabeth Banasikowska.
The professor in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Department of Immunology & Microbiology is excited to see his vaccine enter an important testing phase this month in the United States.
If the initial toxicology tests prove successful, phase 1 human clinical trials could begin as early as three months from now at a number of sites in North America involving HIV positive individuals not yet symptomatic with AIDS.
“We have been working on this project for over 20 years,” says Kang.
“It has been a long, painful process, but we have gotten to this stage now, to test our vaccine, and see whether or not it can prevent HIV infections. Despite the tremendous amount of scientists working on this project, to date there has not been an effective vaccine.”
Kang and his team have invested years getting to this point; even so, they are certainly not alone in having created a vaccine that could potentially curb the deadly toll of this virus.
According to the HIV Vaccine Trial Network, there are 13 ongoing clinical trials, each representing years of work and countless dead ends, each approaching the potential solution in a different way, and each representing hope.
“Over the 20-year period there has been some ups and downs because of the failure of some of the well-known trials, therefore when we see that kind of failure we are discouraged. However our strategy is not the same as the others, so in some way we are encouraged to see whether our vaccine strategy will work better,” says Kang.
The genetically engineered vaccine, produced in large quantities in a Maryland lab, uses what he calls a killed whole HIV-1. The idea is the vaccine would prime T-cells to destroy cells harboring HIV, essentially curing a patient of the virus.
The vaccine is licensed to Sumagen Canada Inc, a subsidiary of Curocom of Korea, which is fully funding Kang’s work on the vaccine.
“I really hope for the success of our vaccine, not just for our company and The University of Western Ontario, but for all humankind,” says Dong Joon Kim, CEO of Sumagen.
Ted Hewitt, Western’s Vice-President (Research and International Relations), says after a long and intensive process, Kang has been issued one of only a very few HIV vaccine patents in the world.
“He has developed the technology to take it this far in a process where dozens of other potential vaccines, from much larger institutions globally have failed,” says Hewitt. “We are tremendously proud of Dr. Kang’s accomplishments to this point.”
Kang says while he sees the trials of fellow scientists worldwide fail, which he admits can be discouraging, he is confident his approach to the vaccine is a step others have not taken.
“It has been a tremendous effort to engineer or design a vaccine,” says Kang, adding “this type of research and development is so important for humankind to saving millions of lives.”
“The success of this vaccine will really help the millions and millions of people around the world affected by HIV/AIDS,” says Kang, noting the AIDS pandemic has killed 25 million people and infected 40 million more. “We can save lives around the world. This is a very important step.”
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