This beautiful photographic essay was compiled by The Alfred in Melbourne, and all credit for this article goes to their amazing teams and the people they care for. This article is shared with permission of The Alfred. Working together with researchers and clinicians at The Alfred, members of the community of people living with HIV in Victoria have been integral to progressing HIV cure research. What follows is an exploration of the stories of just some of these extraordinary people. ** “I think this could definitely be something that collectively is part of the healing journey,” says Simon ..read more

By Dr Maya Dyveke Schou Images by Jimmy Chen Interviewer (INT): Welcome to you both. You are with us in the studio today because you are involved in the world’s longest running championship of hide and seek. Would you please introduce yourselves to the readers. Immunity cell (CELL): Sure, I´m just one single immunity cell, but I´m representing the whole immune system today. I am very happy to be here and get this discussion started! HIV: Yes, it is about time that we get to voice our opinions. Today I´m representing HIV that hides within cells, which have not yet been found, also called the H ..read more

Drs Jesper D. Gunst PhD, Thomas A. Rasmussen PhD and Ole S. Søgaard PhD of Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark share the results of the TITAN study exploring bNABs towards an HIV cure with NAPWHA, ahead of publication in Nature Magazine on the 11th of September. The TITAN study is the first HIV cure study of its kind undertaken in Australia. The current standard treatment for HIV is combination antiretroviral therapy, usually called treatment. Life-long treatment is needed to avoid disease progression, maintain undetectable viral load (VL), and to prevent forward transmission of HIV. Cure-rela ..read more

Dr Jillian Lau of the Doherty Institute and Alfred Health in Melbourne attended the recent IAS (International AIDS Society) HIV Cure and Immunotherapy preconference in Brisbane.  Dr Lau also acted as rapporteur for the preconference, along with Ellen Bowden-Reid, a PhD candidate from the Kirby Institute, Sydney. Dr Lau has kindly compiled this report for NAPWHA to share.  The pre-conference meetings are organised by the IAS ‘Towards an HIV Cure’ initiative, and this year the focus was on strategies that target different components of our immune systems, and how this could help us ach ..read more

HIV is a virus that inserts its own DNA into the host DNA upon infection. This “provirus” can remain dormant, or latent, for a long time. Proviruses are the source of new viruses causing viral rebound if antiretroviral therapy (ART) is stopped. This means treatment is a lifelong proposition for people living with HIV (PLWH). The “shock and kill” approach to HIV cure aims to stimulate cells harbouring these proviruses so that they produce new viral particles. This stimulation is known as latency reversal. This reversal allows cells to be targeted by the immune system for elimination. The goal i ..read more

Antiretroviral treatment (ART) has significant benefits for the health and quality of life of people with HIV. Despite this, a scalable effective cure remains a difficult challenge. We already know that HIV can hide in blood and tissue cells throughout the body. This virus can stay in a dormant state, capable of reactivation. This latent virus is a major barrier to cure since it can rebound if the pressure of ART is removed. In addition to being a barrier to cure, persistent HIV in the brain causes an increased risk of brain disorders. More than 40% of people with HIV experience HIV-associated ..read more

Sydney researchers have developed a way to sequence near-full-length HIV-genomes from viral particles in the blood. This new test is called the PRLS (plasma-derived RNA using long-range sequencing) assay. The test shows that many HIV particles contain defective genomes and are likely not infectious. Researchers can use the test to identify where the virus comes from when they interrupt treatment and virus levels in the blood increase. The team found that cells infected before the start of antiretroviral therapy persist during treatment. These pre-treatment infected cells contribute to detectab ..read more

At the Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference, Dr Gordon Campbell discussed participant motivations and experiences from an HIV cure clinical trial with treatment interruption (ATI). Dr Campbell interviewed participants from the TITAN study.  All were satisfied with their experience and most felt well during the study. Trust in the clinical research team was crucial to their participation and peace-of-mind. They would participate in future ATI trials. Support for the HIV community was a primary reason for participation. Other motivations were an interest in cure science, cur ..read more

A special session at the recent Australasian HIV/AIDS conference featured new research from the Kirby Institute. Dr Scott Ledger presented work on HIV gene therapy in mice. The results show blocking of both virus entry into cells and HIV production. He showed that a single stem cell treatment enabled mice to maintain CD4+ T cell counts during HIV infection. The mice showed delayed viral rebound after the interruption of antiretroviral therapy. They also had lower virus levels in lymph nodes and spleen. This presents a promising step forward in the development of a functional cure for HIV. See ..read more

A special session at the recent Australasian HIV/AIDS conference featured new research from the Kirby Institute. Dr Scott Ledger presented work on HIV gene therapy in mice. The results show blocking of both virus entry into cells and HIV latency. He showed that a single stem cell treatment enabled mice to maintain CD4+ T cell counts in the presence of HIV infection. The mice showed delayed viral rebound after the interruption of antiretroviral therapy. They also had lower virus levels in lymph nodes and spleen. This presents a promising step forward in the development of a functional cure for ..read more