The search for a cure

The search for a cure features

• Low levels of innate immune activation and high levels of gut antibodies may protect people from HIV

  Several research papers published in the last month have reported strong correlations between specific immune responses and protection against HIV infection or its effects. These include...

  From:  News

• 

  Eliminating HIV: latest progress

  At the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle last month there were three main areas of discussion. Prevention and hepatitis C (which we...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  HIV gene therapy

  In April’s HTU, we featured a news story, reporting that a group of patients had had their CD4 counts boosted by a form of gene therapy – and...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Towards a cure for all: How we might do it

  In the second part of this two-part feature, Gus Cairns investigates current research into finding a cure for HIV....

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  Towards a cure for all (part one)

  For the first time, someone has been cured of HIV infection. It was a brutal and expensive procedure but, as Gus Cairns reports, in the first of a...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  The cure

  Could we eliminate HIV from the body altogether? Keith Alcorn looks at the latest milestones in a long journey of discovery. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

• 

  A ‘functional cure’?

  Examining the excitement over a bone marrow transplant that ‘eradicated’ HIV, by Edwin J Bernard. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

The search for a cure news from aidsmap

• French researchers report 14 patients in 'remission' after controlling HIV for over 4 years off treatment

  Two weeks ago, the announcement that a baby had been ‘functionally cured’ of HIV disease with the use of very early antiretroviral therapy (ART) caused great excitement at the start of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2013). ...

  16 March 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Gene therapy studies show potential for HIV control without drugs

  Gene therapy approaches that involve the genetic modification of human haematopoietic stem cells have the potental to engineer HIV control by introducing cells resistant to HIV infection, the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections ...

  13 March 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Very early antiretroviral treatment limits the size of HIV reservoir

  Very early antiretroviral treatment may limit the size of the HIV reservoir in adults and children, according to studies presented on 4 March at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta. Other research presented at ...

  05 March 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• Case report of a 'functional' HIV cure in a child

  Researchers in the United States say that they have identified a case of a 'functional' HIV cure in a child infected with HIV who began antiretroviral treatment within days of birth. The child has now been off treatment for ...

  03 March 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• CMV infection may contribute to the size of the latent HIV reservoir

  The presence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in blood and semen is associated with higher levels of HIV DNA in blood, investigators from the United States report in the online edition of Journal of Infectious Diseases. The study involved gay men ...

  16 January 2013 | Michael Carter

• Low levels of innate immune activation and high levels of gut antibodies may protect people from HIV

  Several research papers published in the last month have reported strong correlations between specific immune responses and protection against HIV infection or its effects. These include a comparison of women in the CAPRISA 004 microbicide trial who became infected and ...

  24 August 2012 | Gus Cairns

• Latest data on HIV cure research

  Investigators presented some of the latest HIV cure-related research at a press conference and oral session on viral reservoirs at the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) this week in Washington, DC. Experts also met for a two-day ...

  27 July 2012 | Liz Highleyman

• What do people living with HIV think about the prospect of a cure?

  The views of people living with HIV and medical researchers about what makes an HIV cure desirable may be very different, and need to be taken into account as the field of HIV cure research moves forward, Fred Verdult ...

  22 July 2012 | Keith Alcorn

• Researchers step up efforts to find an HIV cure

  Scientists launched a road map for research into an HIV cure ahead of the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC, promising international collaboration and calling for more funding to be devoted to research that can eventually ...

  22 July 2012 | Keith Alcorn

• Four-class, five-drug regimen given to monkeys shows signs of producing long-term viral load reductions off treatment

  An animal study (Shytaj) in which standard antiretroviral therapy (ART) was intensified by adding in drugs from other classes has shown signs that it may be possible, using antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) alone, to produce a permanent reduction ...

  29 June 2012 | Gus Cairns

More news

The search for a cure news selected from other sources

• Post-Treatment HIV-1 Controllers with a Long-Term Virological Remission after the Interruption of Early Initiated Antiretroviral Therapy ANRS VISCONTI Study

  Our results show that early and prolonged cART may allow some individuals with a rather unfavorable background to achieve long-term infection control and may have important implications in the search for a functional HIV cure.

  15 March 2013 | PLoS Pathogens

• More HIV 'cured': first a baby, now 14 adults

  Two weeks after the revelation that a baby has been "cured" of HIV, reports suggest that a similar treatment can cure some adults too. Early treatment seems crucial, but does not guarantee success.

  15 March 2013 | New Scientist

• AIDS treatment Visconti’s coup

  If the common factor between so-called post-treatment controllers can be identified, it will allow doctors to offer treatment withdrawal to those likely to benefit from it. It will also show researchers a chink in AIDS’s armour. If they can find something which they can insert into that chink to clear the disease in other people, too, the Visconti trial may come to be seen as a turning point in the war on AIDS.

  15 March 2013 | The Economist

• Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin: Five myths about AIDS

  1. The case of the Mississippi baby means we’re close to curing AIDS. 2. AIDS is the leading killer of babies worldwide. 3. Mothers with HIV should never breast-feed. 4. Drugs are the key to preventing HIV’s spread. 5. AIDS can’t be defeated.

  12 March 2013 | Washington Post

• Next Steps for HIV Research After Toddler Functionally Cured

  The headline-grabbing case of a 2-year-old child functionally cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is making international news and has delegates talking here at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

  10 March 2013 | Medscape (requires registration)

• Behind the miracle child a broken system lurks

  While we celebrate this week’s story of an HIV-miracle cure, let’s not forget the story of injustice that made it possible. How is it possible for a pregnant woman in the world’s wealthiest country to not receive prenatal care? Why were the mother and child “lost to care” for over 6 months?

  07 March 2013 | AIDS Foundation of Chicago

• HIV 'cure' at risk from budget cuts

  The automatic cuts in federal spending known as sequestration could take a bite out of crucial medical research, such as the recently unveiled study in which a toddler was cured of HIV.

  06 March 2013 | CNN

• Reports of 'HIV cure' are premature

  Global news coverage has been dominated by the potentially groundbreaking news that a child born with HIV appears to have been ‘cured’ of the infection. The findings do not mean that a complete cure for HIV has been discovered.

  05 March 2013 | NHS Choices

• Is the HIV 'functional cure' the breakthrough it seems?

  There is already a way of preventing mother to child infections using drugs – which is far better than a functional cure using similar drugs. The excitement of the Mississippi case is in what it tells scientists trying to figure out how to cure HIV. Any practical applications are a long way further down the line.

  05 March 2013 | The Guardian

• HIV Drugs Ease Inflammation in 'Controllers'

  Putting HIV controllers -- who ordinarily don't need therapy -- on highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) appeared to reduce markers of chronic inflammation, a researcher said here.

  04 March 2013 | MedPage Today HIV/AIDS

More news