Experts call the discovery very significant because it means the antibodies stopped virtually 190 strains of HIV from damaging the immune system.
One of the biggest challenges researchers and vaccine developers have faced is the ability of HIV to mutate quickly. This tends to render most antibodies ineffective against new strains.
The trick now will be for scientists to develop a vaccine or other methods to encourage anyone's body to produce these newly discovered antibodies.
There's more on the research in the online edition of the journal Science.
