Grant: Team Grant: HIV/AIDS Biomedical and Clinical Research - Cure - Focused

The war against HIV/AIDS is not yet over. Although anti-viral drug cocktails have changed HIV/AIDS to a chronic manageable disease, people living with HIV infection still have an increased risk of drug side effects, heart, kidney, and brain diseases, as well as cancer. In addition, living with HIV infection is associated with stigma. Thus, a cure for HIV infection is needed. A main obstacle to cure is the presence of a persistent reservoir of HIV infected cells in the body, where our current drugs cannot reach. Our project proposes harnessing the immune system, in particular, a cell called a 'killer T cell' to eradicate the remaining reservoir in order to cure the infection. In order to do this, we will first extensively characterize the genetic signatures of the remaining virus hiding in the reservoir from blood samples from persons living with HIV. We will then design a number of strategies, where we can mobilize a person's killer cells to be able to eliminate their remaining viruses. We will use a 'personalized' approach by studying each person's own viruses and their own immune systems. We will also borrow from a recent revolution in the cancer field, to improve the killer cells to kill HIV infected cells better and more efficiently, by using new genetic engineering techniques. All of our work will be done in the test tube or in pre-clinical models as a preparation to design clinical trials to cure HIV infection.follow