The second phase of testing for a ground-breaking Italian AIDS vaccine is about to get under way, the research chief said Wednesday.
''Finally everything is ready to go after an incredibly long wait due above all to problems with funding,'' said Barbara Ensoli from Italy's Higher Health Institute (ISS).
''Tests will begin shortly in ten centres across the country with 128 HIV-positive people between the ages of 18 and 55 taking part, both men and women,'' Ensoli said.
She added that all volunteers will be undergoing antiretroviral therapy and have a virtually undetectable viral load.
''The objective is to watch the response of the immune system,'' she said.
The second phase is set to last one year, with six months for treatment and six months for testing, Ensoli said.
In 2006 Ensoli closed the first phase of research and reported that her AIDS vaccine had passed its initial tests with flying colours.
She said all the Italian volunteers - both HIV-positive and healthy - had shown a ''100% response to the vaccine by producing specific antibodies''.
Ensoli's vaccine is considered ground-breaking because it adopts a new approach to fighting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Traditional vaccines seek to bolster the immune system, the aim being to boost the body's ability to fight off the disease.
This approach, however, has been relatively unsuccessful against HIV, a virus good at mutating and reviving itself.
Ensoli's 'tat-protein' vaccine on the other hand, attempts to block the spread of the infection and prevent the reproduction of infected cells.
Ensoli believes the HIV virus needs tat-proteins to be able to take root and spread.
By targeting tat-proteins her treatment might be effective against all strains of HIV.
Results from studies of the vaccine on laboratory animals have shown the treatment could be a vital step forward in the fight against AIDS.
The vaccine - described by eminent oncologist and former health minister Umberto Veronesi as ''intelligent'' - received the green light for human testing in 2003.
Ensoli's technique is not without its critics, however.
In August last year the American magazine Science reported that Ensoli had filed a suit against prominent immunologist Ferdinando Auiti accusing him of slander and seeking to tarnish her reputation.
Aiuti, Sciene wrote, had repeatedly cited ''critical errors'' in the first experimental stages of Ensoli's vaccine.
Aiuti said he was ''surprised'' about the suit, adding that he had ''nothing personal'' against Ensoli and that he had not changed his opinion on her experimental vaccine.
