11-27-2016, 02:21 PM
Insertnamehere Wrote:And this will work for how long exactly? HIV is hypermutable, like all RNA viruses. I can assume it will eventually outpace the antibody's ability to recognize it.
I guess it's good for all the current strains, of course. Better have something than nothing at all.
This was my immediate thought as well.
I can't pretend to understand the full extend of HIV's mutations or what exactly they would mean for antibodies, but maybe this can work until genetherapy research gets to a point where it can function as a more permanent cure.
On the other hand, the (apparent) fact that it works on 98% of the strains suggests a very low mutation rate in the regions that would affect this antibody. So there's that.