TAG HIV Basic Science, Vaccines, and Cure Project Blog
By Richard Jefferys, Project Director at Treatment Action Group (TAG).
recent posts
- In The News: CAR-T Cells for HIV
- TAG’s HIV Cure-Related Clinical Research Listing: Background on the March 2026 Update
- TAG’s HIV Cure-Related Clinical Research Listing: Background on the February 2026 Update
- TAG’s HIV Cure-Related Clinical Research Listing: Background on the December 2025 and January 2026 Updates
- TAG’s HIV Cure-Related Clinical Research Listing: Background on the November 2025 Update
Category: Post-treatment controllers
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A paper published in Nature Medicine on October 28th describes two cases of extended post-treatment control of HIV. The research was led by Jana Blazkova from the laboratory of Tae-Wook Chun at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and an accompanying press release generated several media stories. The two people with HIV…
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The past year has seen a notable expansion of efforts to apply gene therapy approaches to HIV cure research, and several online events have highlighted progress in the field. In parallel, work is underway that aims to make gene therapies more affordable and accessible globally. Two papers published early in the year (one in the…
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Today, a presentation by Ricardo Diaz at the ongoing virtual International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020) caused a major splash in the media by reporting that one out of 30 participants in a clinical trial conducted in Brazil has experienced a lack of viral load rebound for a little over a year (64.7 weeks) after interrupting…
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In the aftermath of the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018), which took place in Amsterdam in July, there has been some reflecting on the challenges facing the HIV cure research field. The presentations that garnered the most news coverage described disappointing study results, but there were also nuggets of novelty and encouragement to be…
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Last month, researchers from the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) published a paper in PLoS Pathogens addressing the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruptions in HIV cure research. The joint lead authors were Katherine E. Clarridge and Jana Blazkova, and the focus of the study was on the…
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The 9th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017) began on Sunday in Paris, and the topic of HIV remission has been the focus of several high profile presentations. One of the first major news stories to emerge from the meeting involves a newly described example of prolonged HIV remission in a nine-year-old…
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The annual Conference on Retroviruses & Opportunistic Infections (CROI) took place in Seattle from February 13th-16th, offering a dizzying parade of new data. Webcasts of presentations and PDF files of posters were rapidly placed online and are accessible via the CROI website. A Fillip for Kick & Kill On the cure research front, the results…
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Since the earliest days of HIV research, the idea of trying to enhance immune responses to the virus using therapeutic vaccination has been extensively explored, but with little success. The ability of the virus to compromise CD4 T cells, which would normally coordinate antiviral immunity, may be one contributor to the generally disappointing results. Virus-induced…
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A study published last Thursday in the journal Science has hit the headlines, reporting that sustained post-treatment control of SIV has been achieved in macaques using an antibody therapy developed for the treatment of inflammatory gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. The antibody targets α4β7, a receptor expressed on CD4 T cells (and other immune system cells) that is involved…
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The 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) took place in Boston from February 22-25. CROI deserves kudos for pioneering comprehensive webcasting, and all sessions are available for viewing online. Results from several significant cure-related clinical trials were debuted during the meeting (links to the webcasts are in parentheses): Ole Søgaard from Aarhus University in…