Scientists have been battling the HIV virus for decades ever since it burst onto the American scene decades ago, terrifying the world — and for decades, they have been thwarted in their efforts because HIV mutates so rapidly.

But that might be changing, as studies published on Thursday indicate that the immune system can be accelerated to the point that it could block an HIV infection, according to a U-T San Diego report.

These studies are taking a multi-pronged approach to developing a vaccine against HIV, and once all the components are developed, they could be used in humans as a final step — and testing could take place as soon as just two years from now.

The best and the brightest scientists are on the case, with experts from Harvard, MIT, Scripps Research Institute, and other prestigious academic institutions that are studying the vaccine closely in animal models.

A slew of new studies have been published, two of them in the journal Science and another one in Cell. One suggests that by triggering the antibody system, HIV could be stopped by the neutralizing antibodies. Another study finds that using a different engineered molecule could result in the final stage of protective antibodies’ maturation. And a third study indicates that this engineered molecule has done well in the vaccination of rabbits.

It’s created a lot of excitement among scientists, who said it has worked better than expected and could be upgraded to being used in a human.

However, there are other obstacles before that happens, as first it will need to be proved that this process can be duplicated very gradually into humans in a Phase 1 trial.