Feature Channels: AIDS and HIV

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The diversity of Brooklyn’s population has transformed the practice of infectious diseases that is akin to global medicine at NYU Lutheran Medical Center.

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Using a novel technique to analyze antibodies in fluid collected from intestines of 81 HIV-1-infected and 25 control individuals, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found abnormal gut antibody levels in people infected with HIV-1.

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A new survey of 51 youth-serving, nonclinical, community-based organizations in Baltimore, Maryland, found that the majority did not offer HIV testing, nor did they have established links to refer youth to testing. Organizations that did provide HIV tests were more likely to offer general health services and referral services for sexually transmitted infections screening outside of HIV, and had staff members who were more comfortable talking about sexual health issues.

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Penn Medicine's look at big data in health care continues, with a new post on what Twitter and communication “in the wild” can reveal about HIV.

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Drugs used to treat HIV could affect how the body responds to syphilis, inadvertently contributing to a current outbreak, a new study suggests.

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Hahn and colleagues examined the characteristics of HIV-1 strains that were successful in traversing the genital mucosa that forms a boundary to entry by viruses and bacteria. Studying viral isolates from the blood and genital secretions of eight chronically HIV-1 infected donors and their matched recipients, the researchers identified a sub-population of HIV-1 strains with biological properties that predispose them to establish new infections more efficiently.

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Study suggests that CDC guidelines for who should be on Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) don’t go far enough because current standards could miss some people who should be on it. Working with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, UCLA-led researchers developed an online PrEP risk calculator that may fill that gap.

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Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted a dozen focus groups with 70 straight and gay/bisexual Hispanic and African-American males ages 15 to 24 report that gaining a better understanding of the context in which young men grow up will allow health care providers to improve this population’s use of sexual and reproductive health care.

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In findings they call counterintuitive, a team of UCLA-led researchers suggests that blocking a protein, which is crucial to initiating the immune response against viral infections, may actually help combat HIV.

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Current methods to predict the risk of heart attack and stroke vastly underestimate the risk in individuals with HIV, which is nearly double that of the general population, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. “The actual risk of heart attack for people with HIV was roughly 50 percent higher than predicted by the risk calculator many physicians use for the general population,” said first author Dr.

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Targeting human genes required for HIV infection but not T cell survival may avoid inducing treatment resistance

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HIV policy experts have released the first of two reports to help prevent HIV in communities of color.

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Mississippi man transplanted at UAB is only the eighth HIV-positive to HIV-positive transplant recipient in the United States since implementation of the HOPE Act.

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In a paper published online Dec. 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Washington researchers report on a statistical approach called "tree bootstrapping" can help social scientists study hard-to-reach populations like drug users.

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University of Rhode Island pharmacy professor has discovered potential complications when Hepatitis C and HIV drugs are used in combination with additional medications to combat co-infections.

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A randomized clinical trial published in AIDS and Behavior showed that personalized two-way daily text messaging improved adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive youth ages 16-29. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis (PRS) project at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified this intervention as meeting criteria for good evidence of efficacy.

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At least a third of new HIV transmission events are linked to those with undiagnosed HIV. Researchers looked to identify best approaches to uncovering undiagnosed HIV, comparing the efficacy of three social/behavioral intervention strategies for heterosexual individuals at high risk for HIV in Brooklyn, NY. Active approaches to detect undiagnosed HIV among heterosexuals are needed to achieve elimination of HIV transmission in the U.S.; the study addresses this gap in available HIV prevention programs.

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Combination drug treatments have become successful at long-term control of HIV infection, but the goal of totally wiping out the virus and curing patients has so far been stymied by HIV's ability to hide out in cells and become dormant for long periods of time.

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The Houston Methodist Research Institute’s department of nanomedicine is the recipient of this year’s AIDS Foundation Houston Shelby Hodge Vision Award. Alessandro Grattoni, Ph.D., nanomedicine department chair at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, accepted the award during the World AIDS Day luncheon.

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Today is World AIDS Day. Find the latest resources and experts on the AIDS epidemic in the AIDS and HIV News Source

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While the daily dose of methadone for opiate addiction has declined in recent years, facilities run by African-American directors were more likely to provide low methadone doses than facilities run by managers of other races and ethnicities.

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Three decades of clinical trials have changed the face of HIV/AIDS.

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In recognition of World AIDS Day, held annually on Dec. 1 each year since 1988, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is calling on governments, health advocates and non-government organizations to strengthen their response to HIV/AIDS. In 2015 AIDS claimed 1.1 million lives.

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The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and the New York Blood Center, in partnership with local community consulting groups, have received a $769,578 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to embark on designing an awareness program on the usage of the daily oral medication Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).

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Researchers have made significant progress in the development of a potential vaccine to protect against HIV infection.

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When HIV attacks a T cell, it attaches itself to the cell’s surface and launches a “harpoon” to create an opening to enter and infect the cells. To stop the invasion, researchers from the Penn Center for AIDS Research at the University of Pennsylvania and scientists from Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. have developed genetically engineered T cells armed with a so-called “fusion inhibitor” to disrupt this critical step and prevent a wide range of HIV viruses from entering and infecting the T cells. The findings were reported today online in a preclinical study in PLOS Pathogens.

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Scientists from around the world will gather at UAB in December to focus on HIV research and women, particularly collaborative research on women living with HIV and those at risk.

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Researchers at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences have developed a tool for framing the relationship between policy, criminal justice practices and HIV-related factors that impact racial disparities.

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GW researchers received a $2.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to uncover why certain cancer types increase whereas others are unchanged or even decrease in those with HIV infection.

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A study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences, Inc., has demonstrated that combining an experimental vaccine with an innate immune stimulant may help lead to viral remission in people living with HIV. In animal trials, the combination decreased levels of viral DNA in peripheral blood and lymph nodes, and improved viral suppression and delayed viral rebound following discontinuation of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The research team’s findings appeared online today in the journal Nature.

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Immunotherapy has revolutionized treatment options in oncology, neurology, and many infectious diseases and now there is fresh hope that the same method could be used to treat or even functionally cure HIV, according to two related studies from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Antibody VRC01 proves safe for individuals infected with HIV-1 but only modestly controls the virus in participants who stop receiving antiretroviral therapy.

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As the world moves toward universal health coverage, the question arises: How can governments ensure equitable access to essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries? A section of The Lancet Commission on Essential Medicines Policies report, released today, finds that funding for a “basket” of these essential medicines may pose a challenge, but not necessarily an insurmountable one, for the global health community.

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A new technique to cheaply and rapidly create sets of DNA fragments that include all possible genetic variants will help scientists distinguish between genetic variants linked to disease and those that are innocuous.

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• New research suggests that transmembrane TNF-alpha may allow HIV to infect kidney cells that not express the major HIV-1 CD4 receptor. The findings could provide insights on how patients develop HIV-1 associated nephropathy.

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Researchers were able to restore HIV genomes from serum samples more than 40 years old, enabling them to reconstruct the origins of the AIDS pandemic in unprecedented detail

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The Latest in Cell Biology News

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Researchers at UC San Francisco and the academically affiliated Gladstone Institutes have used a newly developed gene-editing system to find gene mutations that make human immune cells resistant to HIV infection.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding a project to investigate a personalized web app that is designed to encourage young men at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), to get routine testing. The funding for “Get Connected” is supported by the new NIH Adolescent Trials Network. As part of the UNC/Emory Center for Innovative Technology.

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Scientists at the University of Basel discovered a fundamental new mechanism explaining the inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection. These results may open up new avenues for vaccine development. They have been published in the journal “Science Immunology”.

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Earlier this month, amfAR released a new report, “Curbing the HIV Epidemic by Supporting Effective Engagement in HIV Care: Recommendations for Health Plans and Health Care Purchasers,” which highlights the critical role of health plans and health care purchasers, including Medicaid and Medicare programs, marketplaces, and employers, in moving the nation toward ending the domestic HIV epidemic.

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Only four in 10 gay and bisexual men in Baltimore without HIV are aware that pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) may significantly reduce their risk of contracting the virus, even those who had recently visited a doctor or been tested for a sexually transmitted disease, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

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Cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death for those living with HIV, as the infection has moved from a terminal disease to a chronic illness. An article in Critical Care Nurse provides an overview of risk factors, pathophysiology and unique treatment options related to cardiovascular disease in persons living with HIV.

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A team of researchers led by Wayne State University has been awarded funding as a part of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions, a research network devoted to the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults with HIV or at risk for HIV infection. The Wayne State team, led by Sylvie Naar, Ph.D., professor and division director of behavioral sciences in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the Wayne State School of Medicine and associate director of the Pediatric Prevention Research Center, has been awarded an anticipated total of $15.7 million dollars over five years from the National Institute of Child and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, for the project, Scale it Up.

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People under the age of 30 account for the majority of new HIV infections in the United States. This age group is also more likely than adults to own a smartphone. Recognizing adolescents’ connection with mobile technology, a research team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with colleagues at Emory University, has secured $18 million in funding over the next five years from the National Institutes of Health to form the UNC/Emory Center for Innovative Technology or iTech.

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Discovery of a novel, advanced technique to identify the rare cells where human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) hides in patients taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is an important step forward in the search for a HIV/AIDS cure.

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A clinical trial underway – known as the AMP study (for Antibody Meditated Prevention) – will determine whether infusing an experimental antibody (VRC01) into HIV-negative men and transgender individuals who have sex with men, will prevent the acquisition of HIV.

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A new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute shows that “holes” in HIV’s defensive sugar shield could be important in designing an HIV vaccine.

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A series of new studies led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative describe a potential vaccination strategy to jump-start the selection and evolution of broadly effective antibodies to prevent HIV infection.