Feature Channels: AIDS and HIV

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Using venom from the Conus nux, a sea snail, a first-of-its-kind study suggests these conotoxins could potentially treat malaria. The study provides important leads toward the development of new and cost-effective anti-adhesion or blockade-therapy drugs aimed at counteracting the pathology of severe malaria. Similarly, mitigation of emerging diseases like COVID-19 also could benefit from conotoxins as potential inhibitors of protein-protein interactions as treatment. Venom peptides from cone snails has the potential to treat myriad diseases using blockage therapies.

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The AIDS Clinical Trials Group has added rapid infusion, intramuscular injection, an inhalant, and an oral agent to its ACTIV-2 phase 2 and 3 evaluations of multiple investigational agents for treating early, symptomatic COVID-19 in a single trial for outpatient treatment.

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Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

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SEATTLE —Feb. 4, 2021 —Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutch research findings and other news with links for additional background and media contacts.We are looking forward to the Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings, to be held online Feb. 8-12. Read highlights of Fred Hutch research to be presented, including on COVID-19 and cancer and new insights on treating graft-vs.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential way to eradicate the latent HIV infection that lies dormant inside infected immune cells. Studying human immune cells, the researchers showed that such cells have a natural alarm system that detects the activity of a specific HIV protein. Rather than attack the virus based on appearance, this strategy is to attack the virus based on what it is doing — vital activities that are required for the virus to exist.

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New research out of the University at Albany and the AIDS Institute at the New York State Department of Health found that through the middle of 2020, people diagnosed with HIV infection were significantly more likely to contract, be hospitalized with and die from COVID-19.

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Shyam Kottilil, MBBS, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and Director of UMSOM’s Institute of Human Virology (IHV) Division of Clinical Care and Research, has been awarded Mastership in the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Professor Mahesh Mohan, D.V.M., Ph.D., and collaborators more than $3.5 million over five years to investigate the effects of cannabinoids on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). This research project aims to evaluate whether delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) alone or in combination can potentially alter DNA methylation, which is a biological process that can create a change in the expression of certain genes.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.

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SEATTLE – Dec. 2, 2020 – Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutch research findings and other news with links for additional background and media contacts.If you’re following the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting (virtual, Dec. 5-8), see our media tip sheet highlighting Fred Hutch presentations and activities, including those by current ASH president Dr.

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This World AIDS Day, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the ATS is a founding member, is calling on governments, health advocates and non-government organizations to strengthen their response to AIDS and tuberculosis, and to ensure that TB services are maintained throughout their response to COVID-19.

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University of California San Diego has been selected by the NIH to lead and administer an international seven-year, $28-million grant for HIV/AIDS clinical trials.

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The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), the largest global HIV research network, has been re-funded for the next seven years by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and collaborating NIH Institutes.

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The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai will host a virtual event on World AIDS Day.

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OVER-45s are at a higher risk of contracting STIs than ever before because of society's unwillingness to talk about middle-aged and older people having sex, a new report has found.

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Highlights from January 2021 issue of AJPH. Better use of HIV prevention funds could substantially cut new infections; Study explores link between natural disasters, onset of headaches, digestive and back problems; Backpack medicine a promising way to reach people who are homeless during COVID-19; Successful contact tracing programs require a sustainable workforce

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Rutgers School of Public Health instructor, Stephanie Shiau, has been awarded a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health R21 grant to examine the effect of HIV infection and/or exposure during pregnancy on epigenetic patterns in children.

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Study finds that in a diverse, global patient population, a minimal monitoring (MINMON) approach to hepatitis C treatment was safe and achieved comparable sustained virologic response (SVR) to current standard of care.

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A team of scientists from Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $4.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a research center to investigate HIV- and human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers in Africa.

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Robert C. Gallo, MD, the Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and Co-Founder & Director of the UMSOM’s Institute of Human Virology (IHV), announced today that a team of leading scientists in human immunology, virology and stem cell biology, led by Lishan Su, PhD joined IHV on October 1 with academic appointments in the UMSOM Department of Pharmacology. As part of the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund (MEIF) to recruit top research faculty and a donation to IHV from the Charles Gordon Estate, Dr. Su has been named the Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor for HIV Research. Dr. Su will also head IHV’s Division of Virology, Pathogenesis and Cancer.

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Researchers at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans honed in on one population particularly at risk during the pandemic: people living with HIV with at-risk alcohol use. They surveyed 80 people living with HIV in Louisiana during that state’s stay-at-home order, recruiting participants from the ongoing longitudinal Aging in Louisiana: Immunosenescence, HIV and Socioenvironmental Factors-Exercise (ALIVE-Ex) study.

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Rutgers School of Public Health dean, Perry N. Halkitis, will receive the Hyacinth Award, from the Hyacinth Foundation.

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Untreated HIV infection is linked with epigenetic changes suggesting rapid aging. A new study by UCLA researchers shows that antiretroviral therapy given over two years was unable to completely restore age-appropriate epigenetic patterns, leaving patients more susceptible to aging-related illnesses.

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Cultural taboos may leave Muslim American adolescents uninformed about romantic relationships and sex, placing them at risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A sex education program designed specifically for Muslim teens – with a foundation in Islamic morals and values – is reported in the November/December issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC). The official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has appointed David Celentano, ScD, MHS, as a Bloomberg Centennial Professor.

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Researchers with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center have secured $4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI) to establish an HIV-associated Malignancy Research Center focused on lung cancer in East Africa.

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Accomplishing a feat that had been a pipe dream for decades, scientists at University of Utah Health and University of Virginia have recreated in a test tube the first steps of infection by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Doing so has provided up-close access to the virus—which is otherwise obstructed from view deep within the cell—and enabled identification of essential components that HIV needs to replicate within its human host. The research publishes in the journal, Cell.

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In a new study, infectious disease researchers show that HIV viremia isn’t always nonadherence to medication or resistance to the drugs. Instead, the patients are victims of what the scientists have dubbed “repliclones” – large clones of HIV-infected cells that produce infectious virus particles.

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Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine now better understand the role of a protein, interleukin-21 (IL-21), in the immune system response to infections in the nervous system.

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The Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, housed at the University of Chicago, has been awarded $5 million over two years through the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) RADx Underserved Populations program to support a COVID-19 testing project to engage two disenfranchised populations.

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Recreational use of the illicit drug methamphetamine has long been associated with increases in overall impatient and risky behavior. Now, a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers affirms that meth use increases not only sexual desire but also, specifically and measurably, the risk of casual sex without a condom for those who have an increase in sexual desire.

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Patients taking drugs called NRTIs to treat HIV and hepatitis B had a 33% lower risk of developing diabetes.

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In this research, the investigators studied the effect of TDF/FTC in patients who were using the drug to prevent HIV, and in the absence of active HIV infection. The researchers observed patients over the past five years and also included data from two earlier studies.

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The widespread use of antiretroviral therapy to suppress the HIV virus has helped tens of millions of people with HIV live healthier, longer lives—but an unfortunate consequence of people living longer with HIV is an increased risk of cancer. For 25 years, the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) has led national and international efforts to prevent and treat of HIV-related cancers. Now, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have received a five-year, $111 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to lead this research consortium.

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For Black women in the southern United States, mistrust of the health care system that is grounded in structural and systemic racism is a key factor affecting participation in HIV prevention and treatment services, reports a study in the September/October issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC). The official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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HIV prevention remains a public health priority in the United States. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a drug regimen recommended for individuals who have engaged in behaviors that place them at elevated risk for HIV. When used consistently, daily oral PrEP has been shown to reduce HIV transmission by 99 percent. However, despite increases in PrEP awareness and uptake over the past several years, data show that four of five people who could benefit from PrEP did not access the medication in 2018.

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Wistar scientists and top HIV researchers from the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory to Cure HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy (BEAT-HIV Collaboratory) compiled the first comprehensive set of recommendations on how to best measure the size of persistent HIV reservoirs during cure-directed clinical studies.

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UC San Diego Health is the first hospital in San Diego and only health care system in Southern California to transplant a liver from a donor with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) into an HIV-positive recipient. The surgery is part of a national clinical trial.

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DALLAS, Sept. 2, 2020 – Less than three weeks after getting on an organ transplant list for HIV-positive patients, John Welch got the call. A liver was available from a deceased donor, and it was an excellent match.

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IHV announced today that Shenghan Lai, MD, MPH and Hong Lai, PhD, MPH, in addition to three staff members, and two more to add, have joined the Institute of Human Virology. The faculty began their positions on April 1 with Professor and Associate Professor academic appointments in the UMSOM’s Department of Epidemiology & Public Health.

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In a new Immunity study, researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) show that one way to improve the body's immune response to vaccines is to factor in antigen valency. Valency refers to the number of antibody binding sites on an antigen.

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Scientists have developed an injectable drug that blocks HIV from entering cells. They say the new drug potentially offers long-lasting protection from the infection with fewer side effects.

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Watch live and recorded press conferences at https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/news-room/press-conferences.html. Press conferences will be held Monday, Aug. 17 through Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020

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Stanford and SLAC scientists studying the varicella zoster virus found that an antibody that blocks infection doesn’t work exactly as they’d thought.

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A multiple sclerosis drug may be used to block HIV infection and reduce the latent reservoir, according to research published in PLOS Pathogens by a team at the RGeorge Washington University.

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Pregnant women from sub-Saharan Africa with malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a higher prevalence of anemia than pregnant women without infections according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The findings may have implications for reducing the risk of death in pregnant women and preventing low birth weights and neurocognitive impairment in their children as a result of anemia.

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Men at particular risk for HIV are very likely to consistently take prevention medication during vacations when their odds of contracting the virus are higher, according to a new study.

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To protect humans against infection, a protein called MARCH8 tags the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) for destruction while it merely holds HIV hostage, a new study in eLife shows.

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Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR, announced today the publication of a series of articles focused on recent developments in the field of health preference research.