Trial vaccines may cause HIV-related antibody development in participants

Participants of HIV vaccine studies may have developed virus-related antibodies linked to positive diagnoses, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Using vaccine-induced seropositivity/reactivity (VISP) methods, researchers found a series of false positive results.

In an effort to discover what caused individuals to develop these HIV-related cells, a team of investigators examined how often VISP was correlated with vaccine administration techniques.

Of the 2,176 study participants, VISP occurred in a total of 908 individuals. The team also found that among randomized HIV screenings, the occurrence of VISP in patients ranged from 9 to 41 percent.

The authors of the study stated that "these data demonstrate that VISP is a common but highly variable outcome of trials of preventive HIV vaccines." They added that "because participants with VISP may subsequently become infected with HIV, it is imperative that appropriate follow-up testing be conducted, including HIV RNA testing, to minimize potential misinterpretation of HIV test results."

In 2006, an estimated 56,300 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.