Current HIV Research - Volume 8, Issue 6, 2010

The persistence of latent HIV-infected cellular reservoirs represents the major hurdle to virus eradication on patients treated with HAART. It has been suggested that successful depletion of such latent reservoirs will require a combination of therapeutic agents that can specifically and efficiently act on cells harboring latent HIV-1 provirus. Using Jurkat-LAT-GFP cells, a tractable model of HIV-1 latency, we have found that Read More

Most new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa now occur in married and cohabiting couples, many of whom do not realize that only one of them may be infected with HIV. HIV-negative individuals living in stable HIV-discordant partnerships (in which one partner is HIV-infected while the other one is not) are twice as likely to get infected with HIV as those living in concordant HIV-negative relationships. Since HIV transmission oc Read More

The development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine remains the best hope to control the global HIV epidemic. So far, the different strategies tried for vaccine development have led to disappointing results. The first attempted strategy involved trying to raise neutralizing antibodies to inactivate the virus and prevent infection. Both of Vaxgen's VAX004 and VAX003 phase 3 trials made use of this approach but ultimately failed. Giv Read More

Skin and mucosal diseases can be the first manifestation of asymptomatic HIV infection, may indicate advancing immunodeficiency, or may represent systemic opportunistic infections or neoplasms. Mucocutaneous diseases are highly prevalent in the HIV-infected population and multiple pathologies are common particularly with advanced immunosuppression. The dominant HIV-associated skin diseases are infectious and i Read More

Protease inhibitor (PI) resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) are commonly observed in PI-naive patients who are infected with HIV-1 subtype A/E. Few data are available on the genetic mechanisms of PI resistance in non-B HIV-1. This study was aimed to compare PI-RAMs between PI-naive and -experienced patients and determine PI resistance in each group. Genotypic resistance testing was conducted among a cohort of HIV-1-i Read More

Background: Vaccination of asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with a CD4 cell count ® 200/mm3 is strongly suggested prior to travel to a region where yellow fever (YF) is endemic. However, few data describing YF vaccination in such patients are available. Methods: In this retrospective observational study of 23 HIV-infected patients, YF antibody titers, CD4 cell counts, and viral loads were m Read More

Background: The high antiviral potency and low toxicity of saquinavir/ritonavir (SQV/r) prompted us to assess a viable strategy in chronic virologically suppressed HIV-infected patients. Methods: A randomized, multicenter pilot trial. Patients taking triple HAART with (VL <50 copies/mL) and no history of virological failure with a protease inhibitor (PI) or PI-related resistance were assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive SQV 100 Read More

The study of clinical and demographic characteristics related to virus control and disease progression in patients who spontaneously control HIV vireamia (HIV-controllers) is of major interest. A particular cause of HIV control has not been found and the scenario could be partially explained by special homeostatic and immunological features. In this study, CD57+CD28- phenotype, T-cell activation and levels of proliferating T-cell Read More

Objectives: to analyze the long-term immunovirological effect and tolerability of a maraviroc-containing antiretroviral therapy in viraemic and pretreated HIV-infected patients with a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection. Methods: forty-six R5 HIV-infected patients (48% HCV-coinfected) started a maraviroc-containing antiretroviral regimen, including patients with multidrug resistant virus and patients after firs Read More

Vitamin-D-receptor (VDR) mediates immunomodulatory effects of vitamin-VD3 (VD3). The VDRrs1544410_ GG polymorphism has been associated with delayed progression rates to AIDS and resistance to HIV-1 infection. The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in VD3 mediated effects on rs1544410 genotyped dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages (MDM), key cells involved in HIV-1 infection. Immature Read More