Grant: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: Infection and Immunity

Antiretroviral drugs prolong the life and health of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but since these drugs do not eliminate HIV, treatment needs to continue for life. In addition, persons living with HIV (PLWH) have abnormalities in their immune systems and suffer from age-related illnesses that they develop more often and earlier in life than the general population. Thus, there is a need for treatments that reduce the overall viral burden of HIV (the reservoir) and improve immune function in PLWH. In this regard, cancer treatment has been revolutionized by drugs called "checkpoint inhibitors" that reactivate immune cells against cancer cells to help eliminate the cancer. The same approach can be used to reactivate immune cells against HIV-infected cells to reduce the viral reservoir in PLWH. Our research is focused on a particular protein on immune cells that can reduce their function when it is not blocked. We aim to understand more about how this inhibitory receptor works in order to identify PLWH who would be the most likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibition directed against this receptor.