HIV cure. Those two little words elicit such hope, expectation and frustration. This was the theme that ran through the series of presentations at the HIV and Sexual Health Conference in August 2022 in the session HIV Cure: All in the Mix – Bench, Beside, Community. Scientific HIV cure update After an energising global perspective…
A breakdown of the Research priorities for an HIV cure: International AIDS Society Global Scientific Strategy 2021 The landscape of HIV care has dramatically shifted over the past few decades. What was once a terminal disease has been transformed by the immense efforts of people with HIV (PWHIV), community groups, researchers, and clinicians into a…
Researchers found that people infected with HIV who maintained a CD4+ count during untreated infection as high as that in people not infected with HIV had a much smaller HIV reservoir after several years on treatment. The team found that a smaller HIV reservoir was linked to activity in a specific immunological pathway (STAT5 signalling)….
The Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference (commonly known as ASHM after the organiser, the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine) was held online from 16-20 November 2020. Here are some highlights of cure-related presentations. Understanding HIV latency The HIV Cure presentations commenced with Professor Sharon Lewin (Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity). Professor Lewin introduced some of the…
Sydney researchers are leading a study to discover more about the HIV reservoir. The TRESAX study seeks to find out where HIV rebounds from during treatment interruption and what impact vaccination has on virus rebound. The work is led by Kirby Institute Director Professor Tony Kelleher and research fellow Dr Mee Ling Munier. The study…
‘Block and lock’ is an emerging option in the pursuit of an HIV cure. Kirby Institute researchers have developed an animated infographic on ‘block and lock’. This clearly describes the groundbreaking work to develop the approach. Watch the short video here: Professor Tony Kelleher spoke about the ‘block and lock’ strategy at the Australasian HIV&AIDS…
HIV integration into the host genome, forming the HIV reservoir, represents the major barrier to HIV eradication. It is not clear, however, how the HIV reservoir changes during long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART). Kevin Einkauf and colleagues have performed the first comprehensive study analyzing the intact integrated HIV virus. Profound changes in the structure and composition…
Yale researchers have highlighted the role of APOBEC3A (A3A) in sustaining HIV latency. A3A is typically found in immune cells such as macrophages. The new study shows that A3A is also found in CD4 T cells. Detailed experiments in lab models of HIV latency show that A3A blocks HIV reactivation. A3A binds directly to HIV,…
What might a functional cure for HIV look like? In a recent study, researchers assumed that HIV reactivation from latency occurs about once per week. They assessed three cure strategies: reducing the HIV reservoir, removing susceptible targets and eliciting immune control. A 1000-fold reservoir reduction would delay viral rebound by 20 years if treatment stopped….
New results from studies in Belgium describe a promising strategy to reduce HIV infection and push the remaining virus into spots where it can’t easily come back out. The research from the laboratory of Professor Zeger Debyser at KU Leuven describes work in laboratory models using LEDGINs, small molecules that interfere with how HIV integrates…
This beautiful photographic essay was compiled by The Alfred in Melbourne, and all credit for this article goes to their amazing teams and the people they care for. This article is shared with permission of The Alfred.
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Working together with researchers and clinicians at The Alfred, members of the community of people living with HIV in Victoria have been integral to progressing ...
