Day 124: Is this really a controversy?

There was a brief report in Nature Biotechnology that recently caught my eye.  The title wasn’t a big draw (“HIV Vaccine Controversy”), but I have to admit I was intrigued that it was in Nature Biotechnology. I thought it had the potential to discuss some real basic immunology. Of course, it turned out to be a news story and didn’t have any real science in it.

I’m glad I came across the article, though, because it’s an interesting story. Essentially, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) conducted a vaccine trial among 30 participants in India despite the fact that the vaccine had been shown poor results in an earlier European trial. The IAVI claims that it did not act unethically, which I agree with. They argue that response to the vaccine could differ by host genotype, which presumably would be different between your average European and your average Indian. However, I found myself wondering why the IAVI didn’t try and enroll different ethnicities in the European trial—certainly they could have found 30 Indians living in Europe. I don’t know the details, but maybe the IAVI had a good reason for structuring this trial the way they did. 

Still, the whole thing sounded bad, so I am sure the IAVI will be a little more careful in the future. 

M. Linde