The Biology of HIV Infections

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

ADMINISTRATION OF BROADLY ACTING ANTI-HIV-1 NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES IN COMBINATION WITH REPEATED CYCLES OF ANTI-HIV-1 TREATMENT INTERRUPTIONS RESULTS IN CONTROL OF SHIV AD8 REPLICATION. The eradication of the viral reservoir represents the major obstacle to the development of a clinical cure for established HIV-1 infection. In an initial experiment, involving six SHIV AD8 infected macaques, six 10-week courses of treatment interruptions, starting at week 10 post infection, none of the animals exhibited control of viremia during a 2.5-year observation period. In contrast, 3 of 4 monkeys, treated with the combination of broadly acting anti-viral neutralizing antibody plus antiretroviral drugs, controlled their viremia to undetectable levels after 3 rounds of treatment interruption. An extension of this strategy to a human clinical trial is being planned. GENERATION OF A HIGHLY PATHOGENIC SARS CoV-2 WUHAN STRAIN RAPIDLY CAUSES DISEASE IN MACAQUES. A derivative of the SARS CoV-2 Wuhan strain, which causes severe morbidity and lethality in rhesus macaques, was obtained by infecting severely immunocompromised macaques and collecting lung tissue, 5 to 7 months later, for the preparation of virus stocks. These new SARS CoV-2 stocks could elicit severe disease in macaque recipients post infection.