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Published online 3 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.879
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Fresh targets give hope for HIV vaccine
Two antibodies that stop the virus in its tracks could hold the key to broad immune protection.
A new high-throughput screening technique has uncovered two antibodies that wipe out a wide spectrum of different HIV strains. The targets of these antibodies — and the method used to find them — could lead to a much-needed HIV vaccine that confers broad protection against the virus.
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"Burton says that his team has probed around 25 of the top elite controllers from his international panel of donors, and is focusing on characterizing around 10 of the most promising antibodies."
I'm pretty sure the use of the term "elite controller" here is incorrect. Confusingly, individuals with plasma capable of broad neutralization have been termed "elite neutralizers" but they are not necessarily elite controllers (individuals who control viral load to less than 50 copies in the absence of treatment). My understanding is that most – if not all – of the individuals with broadly neutralizing plasma are NOT elite controllers or long-term non-progressors. The individual these two new antibodies were isolated from reportedly has experienced a typical disease course.
In light of this confusion (which has also occurred in several other news articles), I'd suggest that the term "elite neutralizers" be reconsidered by these researchers.