Current HIV Research - Volume 5, Issue 2, 2007

Approximately 700,000 children become newly infected with HIV annually, mainly through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), making paediatric HIV a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The substantial interest in preventing MTCT (PMTCT) has generated information on rates of transmission and associated factors, but there is a lack of information on disease progression and mortality in vertically-infected child Read More

Background: No more than 8% of HIV positive children needing treatment in low- and middle-income countries have access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). Children presently account for about 4% of all treated patients, while for equitable access they should make up at least 13%. Aims: This study explores key issues, implications and interaction dynamics to boost production of easy-to-use and affordable fixed-dose combinati Read More

Previous studies of HIV-1 variants transmitted from mother-to-infant have focused primarily on computational analyses of partial envelope gene sequences, rather than analyses of functional envelope variants. There are very few examples of well-characterized functional envelope clones from mother-infant pairs, especially from envelope variants representing the most prevalent subtypes worldwide. To address this, we a Read More

Immunization with more than one immunogen (co-immunization) is an efficient regimen to induce immunity to multiple antigens. However, immune interference has been reported using multi-plasmid DNA immunizations. HIV-1 envelope (Env) and Gag gene products are the predominant immunogens used in current AIDS vaccines, although, few studies have evaluated possible immune interference when these two antige Read More

Dual infections with HIV-1 and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) may proceed in concert to cause severe disease. HIV positive individuals that become infected with HCV advance more rapidly to AIDS than those that are infected with HIV- 1 alone. In this study, HLA-A2.1 mice were immunized with a combination vaccine including HIV and HCV immunogens (polycistronic DNA + proteins) or vaccine containing either HIV or HCV immun Read More

Background: Very little is known about the influence of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) on the surface expression of CCR5 and CXCR4 with respect to receptor tropism and replication kinetics of autologous HIV strains, during continuous therapy and structured treatment interruption (STI) regimens. Objectives: The main objectives of this study were to assess whether continuous therapy and STI regimens had any mod Read More

Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can successfully reduce plasma and tissue levels of HIV-1 RNA and results in reductions in HIV-related morbidity and mortality, but the slow viral evolution during therapy in cellular reservoirs is a continuing problem. In addition, little remains known how viral evolutionary process may differ between cell-free and cell-associated compartments, over time, in vivo in pati Read More

To determine the degree of HIV-1-specific cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte (CTL) cross-responses to the clade B and C consensus sequences at the single peptide level. We assessed CTL responses in 46 HIV-1 clade B chronically infected individuals using an interferon-γ Elispot assay with a total of 826 overlapping peptides spanning HIV-1clade B and C consensus sequences. In general, 583 peptides were recognized by HIV-1-specific T c Read More

Immunoglobulins (Ig) of pooled healthy human sera were purified by affinity chromatography based on their reactivity with human IgG. This Ig fraction represent connected, natural antibodies (NAbs) and here are denoted as anti- IgG antibodies. The data revealed that IgG, IgA and IgM isotypes are constituents of anti-IgG fraction. The ability of anti- IgG antibodies to prevent infection of PBMC by HIV-1 was demonstrated. Read More

In this paper we report the study of tryptophan metabolism via serotonin in ventricular CSF in HIV-1 infection in order to investigate the origin of tryptophan metabolites in the human brain. The patients (n=4) were affected with noncommunicating hydrocephalus. One of these also was suffering from HIV-1 infection. The CSF was withdrawn from different sites of the cerebral cavity with a neuroendoscopic procedure whic Read More

Toxoplasmosis is a well recognized manifestation of AIDS, but the disseminated disease is a rare condition and it has not been associated to HIV seroconversion to our knowledge. We describe a fatal episode of disseminated T. gondii acute infection with massive organ involvement during primary HIV infection. The serological data demonstrate primary T. gondii infection. The avidity index for HIV antibodies supports recent Read More

Background: High cardiovascular risk and accelerated atherosclerosis are associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Recently, the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the treatment of HIV infection is correlated with the development of HAART-associated metabolic syndrome and lipodystrophy (LDS). Detection of epicardial fat thickness, new index of visceral adiposity in non HIV-infected patients, mig Read More