Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 5 March 2013
doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70043-4
The search for an HIV cure: tackling latent infection
Original Text
Prof Stephen J Kent MD a d, Jeanette C Reece MPH a, Janka Petravic PhD b, Alexey Martyushev BSc b, Marit Kramski PhD a, Robert De Rose PhD a, Prof David A Cooper DSc c, Prof Anthony D Kelleher PhD c, Prof Sean Emery PhD c, Paul U Cameron PhD d e f, Prof Sharon R Lewin PhD d e f, Prof Miles P Davenport PhD b
Summary
Strategies to eliminate infectious HIV that persists despite present treatments and with the potential to cure HIV infection are of great interest. One patient seems to have been cured of HIV infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant with cells resistant to the virus, although this strategy is not viable for large numbers of infected people. Several clinical trials are underway in which drugs are being used to activate cells that harbour latent HIV. In a recent study, investigators showed that activation of latent HIV infection in patients on antiretroviral therapy could be achieved with a single dose of vorinostat, a licensed anticancer drug that inhibits histone deacetylase. Although far from a cure, such studies provide some guidance towards the logical next steps for research. Clinical studies that use a longer duration of drug dosing, alternative agents, combination approaches, gene therapy, and immune-modulation approaches are all underway.
a Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; b Centre for Vascular Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; c Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; d Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; e Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; f Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Correspondence to: Prof S J Kent, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
-doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70043-4
The search for an HIV cure: tackling latent infection
Original Text
Prof Stephen J Kent MD a d, Jeanette C Reece MPH a, Janka Petravic PhD b, Alexey Martyushev BSc b, Marit Kramski PhD a, Robert De Rose PhD a, Prof David A Cooper DSc c, Prof Anthony D Kelleher PhD c, Prof Sean Emery PhD c, Paul U Cameron PhD d e f, Prof Sharon R Lewin PhD d e f, Prof Miles P Davenport PhD b
Summary
Strategies to eliminate infectious HIV that persists despite present treatments and with the potential to cure HIV infection are of great interest. One patient seems to have been cured of HIV infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant with cells resistant to the virus, although this strategy is not viable for large numbers of infected people. Several clinical trials are underway in which drugs are being used to activate cells that harbour latent HIV. In a recent study, investigators showed that activation of latent HIV infection in patients on antiretroviral therapy could be achieved with a single dose of vorinostat, a licensed anticancer drug that inhibits histone deacetylase. Although far from a cure, such studies provide some guidance towards the logical next steps for research. Clinical studies that use a longer duration of drug dosing, alternative agents, combination approaches, gene therapy, and immune-modulation approaches are all underway.
a Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; b Centre for Vascular Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; c Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; d Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; e Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; f Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Correspondence to: Prof S J Kent, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
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