By MONICA GUZMAN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

For the first time ever, an AIDS vaccine has protected subjects of a clinical trial from infection. Now directors of a new Seattle-based study are hoping for a repeat performance — or maybe even a cure.

“I’m more than ever convinced it’s possible,” said Dr. James Kublin, director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, an international research group headquartered in Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Like his colleagues worldwide, Kublin saw the results of the clinical trial reported worldwide Thursday as a welcome sign of progress in an all too often disappointing field.

In the study, which was conducted in Thailand with the backing of the United States Army, among other large partners, more than 16,000 volunteers were given doses of two vaccines and half were given placebos. Of those who later became infected with HIV, 74 had gotten placebos, while 51 had gotten vaccines — a statistically significant difference.

Now, the pressure’s on for a similar Seattle-based trial that will test a different vaccine pair on 1,350 volunteers in 14 sites across the country, including Seattle, and — like the Thai study — track both the rate of infection and the “viral load” in the body.

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