Originally published by Treatment Action Group (TAG) The 25th International AIDS Conference is taking place in Munich, Germany from July 22-26, with several pre-conference events scheduled on Sunday, July 21st. Remote access will also be possible for registered attendees, with recordings made publicly available at some point after the meeting ends. Links to events and sessions related to HIV cure research are appended below (please leave a comment if we’ve missed anything). In addition to the sessions on the conference agenda, several Martin Delaney Collaboratory Community Advisory B ..read more

Today, I’m a regular contributor to several HIV publications. Communicating complicated HIV science in plain language is vital for our long-term health and wellbeing. And HIV scientists too, also need to gain our interest in their work for we are the pool from which they must recruit participants for cutting-edge HIV cure and ARV treatment clinical trials. As positive people, we live in an age when HIV science has reached new heights with antiretroviral (ARV) long-term injectables, a new weekly ARV pill successful in recent clinical trials, and the promise of a functional cure. One such ‘funct ..read more

Sadly, this won’t have been a real cure story. So, let’s break down the science for you. By Kiho Tanaka There is a lot of hope around HIV cure research as scientific discoveries are made daily around the world. Every finding is scientifically important, as each is a piece in the huge puzzle to find a cure for HIV. But the immediate relevance of these findings to people living with HIV needs to be carefully communicated. Unnecessary media hype is unhelpful and can be problematic and harmful if it creates confusion or false hope. We need real information to reach people, not flashy vague stateme ..read more

A humorous interview to increase awareness about HIV. Illustration by Dr Maya Dyveke Schou. Created with BioRender.com Interviewer (INT): Welcome to you both. You are with us in the studio today as contestants in the world’s longest running hide and seek championship. Please introduce yourselves to our audience. Immune cell (CELL): Sure, I’m just one humble immune cell, but I’m representing the whole immune system, today. I’m very happy to be here and get this discussion started! HIV reservoir (HIV): Yes, it is about time that we get to voice our opinions. Today, I’m representing HIV within ce ..read more

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