Category: Elite controllers
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Several years ago, Bruce Walker and colleagues from Partners AIDS Research in Boston launched the largest ever effort to research immunological control of HIV infection, the international HIV controllers study. The project is now proceeding under the aegis of the new Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, created recently thanks to the generous support of the…
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A paper recently published online by the journal Blood offers new data on HIV-specific CD8 T cell responses in the rectal mucosa of elite controllers (individuals who control HIV replication to undetectable levels in the absence of treatment). The senior investigator, Barbara Shacklett, generously took time out to discuss the study findings with TAG and…
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Individuals who maintain control of HIV replication in the absence of any therapy may offer important clues to aid the development of both vaccines and novel immune-based therapies. Many research groups are studying such individuals, with the largest and most ambitious research project being the elite controller study helmed by Bruce Walker from Partners AIDS…
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At the recent CROI meeting, David Goldstein from Duke University gave a plenary presentation on genetic determinants of viral load set point in HIV-infected individuals. Goldstein’s talk was an update on work published recently with CHAVI (Center for AIDS Vaccine Immunology) collaborator Amalio Telenti from the University of Lausanne. Their approach involved analyzing a staggering…
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A new study just published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (authored by Peter Hunt from UCSF and colleagues) reports that levels of CD4 and CD8 T cell activation correlate with declines in peripheral blood CD4 T cell counts, even in individuals who consistently maintain viral loads below 75 copies/mL (dubbed "controllers"). It has…
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A subset of HIV-infected individuals do not show any signs of disease progression and maintain normal CD4 T cell counts over many years of follow up; they are typically referred to as long-term non-progressors (LTNPs). Therapy is usually unnecessary in such individuals because the immunologic indicators that are used to guide initiation of antiretroviral treatment…