A team of researchers at Duke University in conjunction with the Center for  HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), a seven year project funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institute of Health has identified three new gene variants in the DNA of 486 people infected with HIV that appear to have helped some of these patients fight off the virus and there by delay the onset of AIDS.  In this new analysis, patients with specific gene variants known as polymorphisms, in key immune system cells appear to be much better at controlling the proliferation of the virus after infection. The new findings may prove to be instrumental in the development of an HIV vaccine that works by boosting and aiding the body’s immune system to enhance the protective effects of one or more of these new gene variants.  The study the first large cooperative study with such major findings and is a definite boost in the search for a cure and the treatment of HIV/AIDS.  The vaccine if successful will prove to be of tremendous benefit in fighting off the disease in developing countries where the numbers of AIDS patients grow by thousands every day.